46 MARCH-APRIL 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL to the world, have some empathy, despise injustice and racism, and embrace reserve and a sense of modesty about one’s own society. Implicated in and increasingly estranged from a history drenched in racism, violence, and tattered remnants of Jim Crow, I eventually went abroad, joining the Peace Corps and teaching English overseas. It took some years abroad, an exile of sorts, and the opportunity as an FSO to forge that volatile mix into my vocation as a secret sharer. I’m not sure my political reporting ever changed the course of history, but I am deeply proud of my service to my country and feel that I have been repaid handsomely. n MAHMUD HAMS Political reporting from the field can involve serious risk. William Roebuck learned this very early in his career, when he was Gaza political officer, during a routine trip from Israel into Gaza territory on October 15, 2003. Suddenly, near the village of Beit Hanoun, there was a loud explosion just behind the lead vehicle in which he was riding. Radio contact was lost, and the driver made an immediate U-turn. This is what they saw: four tons of SUV steel flipped upside down in a crater in the road and piles of mangled parts and debris. Three members of Roebuck’s security detail were killed, and a fourth seriously injured.
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