War on peace: the end of diplomacy and the decline of American influence

Ronan Farrow is an investigative journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his role in the exposure of Harvey Weinstein. He is also a former State Department official who began as an intern for Richard Holbrooke, one of America's great diplomats, though one with great flaws. The central theme of War on peace is the laying to waste of the State Department under successive presidents and the consequent shift in power to the White House and to the Pentagon. The book opens with the sacking in January 2017 of Tom Countryman, a career diplomat and expert on arms control. Countryman was working on a mission on non-proliferation in the Middle East when he was abruptly informed that his services were no longer required. He was a victim of the Mahogany Row purge—so called after the seventh floor corridor of the State Department which contains the Secretary of State's office—together with many other career officials, fired without notice. Some units, including the one dealing with North Korea, were abolished, while a number of ambassadorships remain unfulfilled and recruitment is at an all-time low.