U.S. Spokesperson Duguid says, "sometimes the struggle against violent extremism is violence"

The Diplomatic Reception Room of the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C. was a cozy little place. Over 30 of us – on a reporting tour on Social Media were chattering away on various topics and we had much to discuss. We just met Alec Ross, the Senior Adviser for Innovation in the Office of the Secretary of State. Now we are about to meet face to face with the Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department – Gordon Duguid. We were told that Duguid had a broad knowledge on all the countries that were represented by our group and we were pretty much anticipating the meeting, to ask many “country specific” questions, this time around. He was also the man behind our “Social Media Tour” - the one who was supposed to have made it all happen, well, according to our tour guides or the Media Relations Officers from the Foreign Press Centre. He’s also the one who does the press briefings for the U.S. State Department and if you watch foreign news regularly, chances are, you may have seen him on TV quite often.

I was representing Sri Lanka and was sent from the Independent Television Network. I was awaiting my turn to ask a couple of questions regarding my country. As we were all seated at our different tables casually helping ourselves to the entrée at the distinguished Diplomatic Reception Room, Duguid arrived and sat at our table, prompting some of us to seize the opportunity and ask him a few questions just before the meal and before the actual conference took place. In Sri Lanka, we had just ended a 30-year long war against terrorism. The current president who came into power, ended the war in just 4 years as the head of state and was re-elected in January for a second term. And there is a sort of a debate or a controversial idea among some, that the United States secretly supported the LTTE terrorists. So when it was my turn, I questioned Gordon Duguid on this, so that we have a clear answer to this long debated question.


I asked Duguid, how does the United States looked at the manner in which we eradicated terrorism from our country. Do they think our government’s efforts to accomplish this, violated human rights?

In response to this question, Duguid said that the United States have already released a document on human rights, which is a very public document, that gives the official position of the Department of State on this matter. But he also said that the United States certainly supported the government’s efforts to end the terrorist reign of the LTTE and they certainly had a number of discussions about terrorism in general and fighting terrorism with our government.

He further said “However, our struggles against terrorism do not release any of us from our responsibilities to conduct that struggle responsibly. And I would point to our own debates here in the United State over renditions and detentions in Guantanamo and how the trials go as evidence that we are looking at ourselves and not just at other countries. And therefore I would say that universal standards of human rights exist, they are very well understood by everyone.” Duguid also pointed out that “Everyone also understand that terrorism must be fought and that sometimes the struggle against violent extremism is violence. However, that doesn’t release any of our governments from a responsible approach, particularly when it comes to respecting civilians and non combatants.”


As soon as that question was over with, we were served one of the most scrumptious meals and a mouth watering dessert. Following lunch, was the actual conference where Duguid was to answer specific questions from the group. After a great deal of questions that were shot at him by journalists from 30 different countries, I asked mine. What is the U.S. government’s stance on the Presidential election in Sri Lanka and our efforts in development and resettlement process following the end of the war and the current situation in our country?

Duguid said that their position in general on the elections is that, the election should be as free and fair as possible and should reflect the will of the people. And if you accurately reflect the will of the people, that is then very often known, quite quickly. He further said “As far as our opinion on the general situation goes, actually there is a lot of work to be done. Sri Lanka has come through a very long and very bloody struggle against the most vicious terrorists group in the world. However, that battle has been won. And it is now in the interest of all, that the rights of the civilians be respected that the people who do need to have shelter, who do need access to clean water and food are allowed to try and receive those services as quickly as practical.”

Thinking through the words of Duguid, I was contemplating... So does the American government endorse upon violence against violence – at least sometimes? And how do they see other nations acting upon in a similar fashion? Are they being hypocritical, giving excuses for past behavior or are they coming into terms with the idea? Does that also mean, that the manner in which the terrorist leader in Sri Lanka was killed in the end was fair? Hmmm...

Duguid answered just two more very interesting questions from a Chinese journalist (there were 3 of them from China – such a massive country and they probably deserve it) and the Vietnamese journalist. Then we thanked him, took some interesting photographs right in front of the State Department building in very chilly weather, got into our tour-bus and were on our way to see the Foreign Press Centre, where it all began. That, my friends, is another story altogether!

Alec Ross - Advisor, Innovator and Guru

30 journalists from all over the world were at the Diplomatic Reception Room of the US Department of State in Washington DC. We were on a reporting tour and the topic was Social Media. We had just met the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and were still highly excited about the meeting.

This time we were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Alec Ross, the Senior Adviser for the Innovation in the office of the Secretary.


His role in leading the State Department's efforts to find practical technology solutions for some of the globe's most vexing problems on health care, poverty, human rights and ethnic conflicts was of high interest to me; as it involved many innovative methods in which social media can be successfully utilized in tasks as diverse as the ones they are engaged in.


Alec Ross walked in with a charming smile as he greeted us. Then he let us in on a little bit of history about himself. Ross’s background is in the NGO world. In 2000, Ross and 3 colleagues co-founded “One Economy”, a global non-profit that grew into becoming the world’s largest digital divide organization, growing from a team of four people, to having programs on four continents.


During 2007 and 2008, he ran technology, media and telecommunication policy for Barac Obama’s presidential campaign. Then literary just a year ago he came to the state department to build an innovation agenda for America’s diplomatic and development agenda.


Alec Ross commenced his speech with a little story about a friend who goes to the same shop to buy toys made of scrap metal from a very rural part in the world, Until one day - the guy who sells the toys tells her to email him and pre-order what she wants, thus demonstrating the global connectedness that is evolving.

Then he described one of the successful efforts made by his team just after the tragic earthquake in Haiti. A member of the staff had come up with an idea to encourage people to donate small amounts of money – a maximum of 10 dollars – over their mobile phone. With a prompt okay from the Secretary of State, they set it up, so that when people awake the next morning, it would be the first thing that would come up on their mobile phone, prompting them to take quick action.

And action they took… Their effort raised more than 30 million dollars in about 3 weeks. In 10 dollar increments – that’s response from about 3 million Americans for the earthquake victims in Haiti !


Ross gave another example to demonstrate how they are attempting to use technology is with regard to the continued narcotics and cartel fueled violence in Mexico.

One of the biggest issues that have come up recently in Mexico is that people are afraid of reporting criminal activities in their neighborhood to Police for the fear retribution, as they are afraid that they will be killed for reporting crime. Therefore, Ross and his team have been developing an idea with the Mexican government for the past several months to set up a Web based and SMS based crime reporting program.

With this program, people can confidently report a crime directly from where they are, and an NGO then makes the content and the source anonymous and post it on a special public website. The police are then given a particular number of minutes, within which they have to report back to the website, regardless of what they find. The idea here is to introduce anonymity, transparency and accountability – into fighting narcotics and narcotics fueled violence in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Alec Ross pointed out that there is a perception about the United States in recent years that they are attempting to ‘overpower’ other countries. He further said that one of the significant shifts since Hillary Clinton has become the Secretary of State is that there is less reliance on “overpowering” and an increased focus on “empowering”.

He also said that his role and the role of his team was, within that broader frame of empowerment, how technology can be a platform that can empower different communities and nations. He also let us in on an example to illustrate how dedicated the Secretary of State is, to bring the latest technology into handling US government activities.

He said Hilary Clinton met about 15 to 20 young people who are involved with new media technology in the State department. He pointed out that for someone who sits down with heads of state, kings and queens – to sit with youngsters who are not seniors at the State Department was kinda cool and that it shows the level of her dedication.

Finally he said that as someone who has the opportunity to interact and engage with Hillary Clinton quite frequently, it’s a real treat to work with her.

Meet The Secretary

Stepping out of the Newsroom and flying to Washington DC was not on my To Do list but somehow it manifested itself in the form of a Social Media - Reporting Tour, about a week ago.

This was to be my first real experience overseas and the first time I was to fly to a foreign destination on my own. 4 and a half hour flight to Dubai, 8 hours at the airport trying to get on Facebook and another 15 hours of flight to Washington DC should have killed my excitement but it didn't. In fact, the moment I arrived and took a taxi to the hotel only to find out that due to a 4 hour delay as a result of flight delay, my check-in time was pushed back and I had about 6 hours to wait till my room was vacant! But luckily, I bumped into one of the 30-odd journalists who were supposed to arrive at the Washington Plaza and leaving our bags at the concierge, the two of us went sight seeing in DC.

To give you a bit of the background story - the tour was organized by the Foreign Press Center of the U.S. Department of State and funded by the U.S. government. So why would they do this? Well, according to what I understood from the folks at the Foreign Press Center, by inviting over 60 journalists and bloggers from around the world on 2 reporting tours - one in February and the other in March - the U.S. government hopes to highlight their views on different matters and to present them to other nations through the journalists. Apart from that, the tour being on Social Media, the U.S. government more or less painted a fine picture of just how they maximize the benefits of using social media to put their message across to the general public in a more effective manner and at the same time, to harness the views and comments from the public as well.

However, the next morning almost 30 journalists, together with representatives from the Foreign Press Center - Nicole, Matthew, Dorris and Neil - were at the U.S. Department of State building. After the routine and strict security check-ups, we were taken to the Treaty Room, just to look around. This was prior to the scheduled meeting with Alec Ross - Senior Advisor for Innovation to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Gordon Duguid - State Department Deputy Spokesman.

Then something happened.. Our guides from the Foreign Press Center pointed at a row of chairs laid out at the entrance to the U.S. Secretary of State and said, we're taking a picture. Just sit here and gather round but leave the middle seat empty. So as we were curiously assembling as we were told, I happened to overhear Matthew saying "Hillary Clinton" and I quickly turned. I couldn't believe my ears, so I asked, "Matt, did you just say Hillary Clinton is going to be here?". And he was like "Shhhhh..." And the next thing you know, the door opened.

Someone came out.

There was tension.

There was anticipation and excitement in the air...

And then she arrived.

U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton herself arrived in the presence of 30 exclaiming foreign journalists and bloggers.

She spoke to us briefly, asking from which countries we were from and she invited just a few questions. Three lucky journalists managed to ask questions before she said "let's take a picture".

Answering the questions from the group, On Uganda she said that Uganda should not kill people for being homosexual and that the United States was monitoring this.

And on the Israeli and Palestinian issue at that time she said that the US government is of the view that Palestinians should have a state of their own and at the same time, Israelis have a right to live in peace.

Meanwhile speaking on Azerbaijan she said that the Obama administration spoke out when Azerbaijan bloggers were arrested by the government, adding that the U.S. government is working on resolving the Azerbaijan and Armenian issues.