BEFORE READING: UNDERSTANDING NEW VOCABULARY.

a) DIPLOMATS AND CONSULS

b) CHIEF DIPLOMAT

c) DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

d) FOREIGN POLICY

E) SECRETARY OF STATE

Virtually almost every executive department is involved in the daily operations of the United States contemporary foreign policy. All of them are consulted on foreign policies that relate to their areas of responsibility. But there are only three governmental agencies that are actually involved. They are: the Department of State, which handles diplomatic affairs; the Department of Defense, which is responsible for all military services; and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which is the core of the American intelligence community.

The Department of State is headed by a Secretary whose political power is second only to that of the President. The Secretary of State is responsible for the administration of this vast department, which gathers information from all over the world and represents American interests abroad through its diplomatic missions. The Secretary of State has the duty of trying to maintain peace and to negotiate economic and political treaties.

The President is the Chief Diplomat and as such, he makes foreign policy. The Constitution confers this power on the President indirectly. It authorizes him to receive foreign ambassadors, to appoint ambassadors, and to make treaties with the consent of two-thirds of the Senate. The President stands at the center of a worldwide network of embassies, legations, and other special missions abroad which represent the United States throughout the world.

The diplomatic missions in foreign countries are headed by ambassadors and ministers. An ambassador is the highest ranking envoy. He is the personal representative of the chief executive of his country. As such he has the right to audience with the head of the nation to which he is accredited. A minister – an envoy of a lower rank than an ambassador – must, on the other hand, deal through the Foreign Ministry in the country to which he is sent. The minister is generally considered the highest ranking emissary in a small country.

Formerly, political and economic functions handled by diplomatic and consular officers were separated respectively. But the Rogers Act of 1924 altered this traditional separation of functions. Today the diplomatic personnel are located in the capital of the country to handle political, economic, and commercial affairs; and the consuls are located in the major cities of the country to assist Americans with various problems, and to perform certain notarial, citizenship, and immigration tasks, such as renewing US passports and issuing visas for visitors or immigrants to the United States.

No state, country, or private, or public person may use force or violence against the person of an ambassador, his property, household, or servants, even in the event of a declaration of war between his nation and the one to which he is accredited. The ambassador has freedom of communication with his government. His couriers have special passports and must not be searched when traveling. Pouches of diplomaticmail are not subject to search by customs or police authorities. The ambassador and his staff are exempt from criminal, civil, police, fiscal, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the country to which he is accredited. For minor violations of law, such as speeding, the diplomat is ‘ immune’ from prosecution and arrest.

Diplomatic immunity – exemption from the local jurisdiction of the capital in which the diplomat works – is recognition of the fact that he owes loyalty to his own country, not to the foreign land to which he is accredited. Diplomatic immunity is a matter of common international usage granted on a reciprocal basis.

3. READING FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION. Scan the text to find the following information:

WORD STUDY.

5.1 Study the following words and phrases in their context of the text and match each one to the correct description from the list below. Use a dictionary for the words you don’t know.