HELENA — After weather conditions prevented his flight from landing in Missoula on Tuesday night for a Mansfield Dialogue, a senior state department official shared his insight into global current events on Wednesday at Carroll College.
Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Global Affairs Bill Russo shared insight on global current events and their impact on local communities.
According to Russo, he is the first senior official to make an official state department visit to Montana in five years.
He spoke to a small crowd over lunch at Carroll College that included students, faculty, local leaders and representatives from the University of Montana's Mansfield Center.
Russo touched on topics ranging from foreign policy priorities, the diplomacy and engaging the public on issues that, at times, can feel a world away.
“Meeting folks where they are, if I had to put a sign on my desk for my job that’s exactly it. We want to meet with farmers, we want to meet with students, professors, academics, we want to meet with the business community. It’s not just enough to speak to the people who already understand why foreign policy matters here at home, we want to have an opportunity to have the change to convince people who maybe don’t think about it that way or never had the chance to think about it,” Russo said.
Russo was unable to speak at UM or Salish Kootenai College because of the weather causing flight problems on Tuesday, but in a statement, Russo says he hopes to reschedule the Missoula dialogue virtually as soon as possible.
