it's a great job. >> thomas r. pickerring took a personal interest in it and felt that, of course, it would only benefit the foreign service to have a wired range of perspective, diverse ideas, experiences, backgrounds. in its totality, that's what represents america. the reason why it continues to exist is because they have not successfully arrived at a percentage that reflects american society. >> bonnie: mary vargas was a pickering fellow. the daughter of immigrants, vargas grew up in a tough neighborhood in east l.a. >> mary vargas: i was very curious about the world early on. and when i started high school, i had an excellent european history teacher and world history teacher, and she told me about model united nations. >> bonnie: vargas was encouraged to apply to george washington university's school of international affairs. she was accepted through the women in leadership program which helped pay for her first two years of school. >> mary vargas: my second year i was a little bit concerned about my financial situation

we're all very excited to hear from the honorable thomas pickering. the panel -- the conversation is going to be moderated by chris kojim who is a visiting professor of the practice of international affairs after serving as the chairman of the national intelligence council at the elliot school he was previously the director of the mid career mipp program and director of the summer foreign policy program. in government, chris served as a staffer on the house foreign affairs committee, under representative lee h. hamilton as the deputy assistant secretary of state in the bureau of intelligence and research and as deputy director of the 9/11 commission. he was also the president of the 9/11 public discourse project, the commission's follow on public education organization. he served as a senior adviser to the iraq study group. please welcome professor chris kojim. >> it's a real honor to be here tonight, and this is in the very best traditions of this school. a very erudite, accomplished policymakers into the academy, and so that both can benefit. and i'

we're all very excited to hear from the honorable thomas pickering. the panel -- the conversation is going to be moderated by chris kojam who is a visiting professor of the practice of international affairs after serving as the chairman of the national intelligence council at the elliot school he was previously the director of the mid career mipp program and director of the summer foreign policy program. in government, chris served as a staffer on the house foreign affairs committee, under representative lee h. hamilton as the deputy assistant secretary of state in the bureau of intelligence and research and as deputy director of the 9/11 commission. he was also the president of the 9/11 public discourse project, the commission's follow on public education organization. he served as a senior adviser to the iraq study group. please welcome professor chris kojam. >> it's a real honor to be here tonight, and this is in the very best traditions of this school. a very erudite, accomplished policymakers into the academy, and so that both can benefit. and i'

so, it is an honor to nice to introduce the ambassador thomas pickering. he is a career ambassador and that is the designation of very few ever received only a few in a generation. the ambassador is a phenomenon the most unpublished -- accomplished of his generation and he joined the service in 1960 and retired the second time in 2001. during that period of time the assignments he had. it's just stunning for me to contemplate him having served as ambassador to the united states of america seven times and the important countries and possessions around the world. he was not limited to any single area of expertise so he served as the ambassador in jordan from 74 to 78 the ambassador ambassador of nigeria from 81 to 83 and ambassador in el salvador can 83 to 85, israel 85 to 88, and then he was ambassador to the ambassador to the united states and united nations from 89 to 92 in the lead up to, during, and in the aftermath of the gulf war. .. >> of american foreign policy. just on a personal note, i have never seen an individual with more energy and more creat

we're all very excited to hear from the honorable thomas pickering. the panel -- the conversation is going to be moderated by chris kojam who is a visiting professor of the practice of international affairs after serving as the chairman of the national intelligence council at the elliot school he was previously the director of the mid career mipp program and director of the summer foreign