Putting American Safety at the Center of Foreign Policy

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning, Well, what the heck is going on in the Department of State. Well, Marco Rubio keeps that close to his vest and he’s been doing a great job. But calling in today is Tommy Pigott and he’s the spokesperson for the Department of State. And well, Tommy, you are New Jersey die originally and now you’re you’ve got

0:24 an important job at the Department of State, and tell us all everything you do and tell us what people should look out for.

0:32 Speaker 2 Yeah, well, I mean, it’s it’s a great honor to be there.

0:34 Speaker 3 It’s I joined with this new administration in terms of working at the States Department, and really one of the great parts of working at the State’s Department is seeing all the ways that.

0:43 Speaker 2 We’re helping the American people.

0:44 Speaker 3 I mean, one of the things that Secretary Rubio did when he started under President Trump was to kind of change how we view foreign policy in general, to say, does it make America saye for stronger, more prosperous. It was really sounds like a comments as approach that should have always been the case, but it actually is a

0:59 whole ethos that has gone throughout the entire building and that goes from everything to the services we provide Americans overseas, to our travel warnings to Americans across different areas, to the implementation of foreign policy and peace steals understood.

1:13 Speaker 1 Now Americans traveling, I mean with the war is going on in the Ukraine and even Poland is keeping their eyes open. Russia, Ukraine, Iran, well, even Israel, nobody really knows tell us about the travel in those countries. Is there any any warnings out for Americans not to travel.

1:36 Speaker 3 Well, we have actually a whole website, travel dot State dot gov that actually gives warnings to Americans based off of where they’re going. It’s based off of four levels all the way from exercise normal precautions to do not travel.

1:50 But if you go to the website, you click on the country you want to go to, it actually gives you a very detailed rundown of what areas to avoid, what type of activities to avoid, Why it’s at that level countries or do not travel, and explains why some countries have different levels of precautions. But Americans are still traveling,

2:06 and we’re actually about to welcome a lot of people to the United States, obviously with the World Cup and other provisions, and we have the policies in place to make sure we’re vetting those people that are coming here.

2:14 Speaker 1 Now, those people that are coming in, are they checked for diseases and things like that, because with this Cimbola going around in Africa and any African SATA players coming, I mean, we have to watch out for that.

2:30 Speaker 3 Well, we have Title forty two actually in place. So Title forty two in place says that if anyone’s been to an affected area within twenty one days of wanting to come to the United States, any foreigner, they are not allowed to come into the United States.

2:41 Speaker 2 So there is a team from.

2:42 Speaker 3 The DRC where a Bola currently is that is set to play in the World Cup, but they’ve actually been in Europe for a while, so that wouldn’t apply. They haven’t been in the affected area. But we have that Title forty two provision. And then when it comes to visas in general for people coming, we have.

2:55 Speaker 2 Surged vetting resources.

2:57 Speaker 3 We’re making sure if you’re from an area with a terrorist threat or if you have said things that threat in the United States, we’re vetting all of that. We have a huge vetting team to make sure that we’re each visa decision being a national security decision and protecting the American people.

3:08 Speaker 1 Understood, And what else would you like to tell the American people on a Sunday morning.

3:15 Speaker 3 Well, I think one thing kind of mentioned when you talked about traveling. One thing that’s really important to do is if you go to step dot state dot gov, you can register with the State Department to let them know if you’re going to a certain country when you’re going.

3:26 Speaker 2 And there’s been a couple instances.

3:28 Speaker 3 During my time with the State Department where it’s been really helpful to know, because if we need to help you, if we need to reach you with something, if we need to say, or if you need assistance knowing that you’re traveling, lets us provide.

3:39 Speaker 2 That assistance to you.

3:40 Speaker 3 Let’ us reach out to you proactively. Let’s us aid you as only the United States government can. And that’s really the fundamental role of the State’s Department. One of the reasons it was founded was to help Americans abroad, to make sure that they’re safe, that they’re secure, that we can assist them.

3:55 Speaker 2 And that’s what we’re working on every day to do.

3:57 Speaker 1 Understood, And well, you know, thank you for calling in today, and keep it going in the State Department because Americans do like to travel, but they we got to keep all Americans.

4:10 Speaker 2 Safe and that’s exactly what we’re doing every day.

4:12 Speaker 1 Tommy Piggott, spokesperson for the Department of State, thank you for calling in this Sunday morning and we’ll talk to again to you real soon.

4:19 Speaker 2 Thanks for having me on