Tony Blinken doesn't have to look far for an example of ingenuity in the Department of State.

Standing in the Benjamin Franklin Room on Feb. 2, the deputy secretary of state only had to point to the eponymous diplomat to illustrate how the agency can find solutions to complex problems.

"Ben Franklin charted the Gulf Stream, he pioneered the study of electricity, he authored America's first diplomatic treaty and he helped forge a new ethos of self-government, almost none of which he did sober," Blinken said. "In other words, he's an innovator, one of our nation's greatest."

It's a Franklin-level of innovation that Blinken and the State Department are trying to imbue now, albeit minus the penchant for imbibing.

Instead, the Department is pushing new initiatives, including the Foreign Service Institute's Center for the Study of the Conduct of Diplomacy, established in 2014, to provide deeper analysis of diplomatic best practices to study how to effectively apply policy.

Blinken also talked about the push for collaboration with Silicon Valley to help solve complex policy problems, highlighting an Innovation Forum he recently attended in California.

"Just a few days ago, I was at Silicon Valley, where I joined roughly 150 innovators, humanitarians, coders and designers in a full-day workshop to help close the education gap for Syrian refugee children," he said.

"Every day, our team here at State works towards big goals like that, that benefit from the leadership and creativity of the innovation group."

Moving forward, the deputy secretary said the CSCD, as well as a new curriculum for the FSI, would help modernize State's approach to foreign policy in the 21st century.

"We need to create more bridges that allow our diplomats to tamp into the energy and ingenuity of American education, innovation and entrepreneurship, and to enable our foreign policy to spark and celebrate new ideas," he said.

Blinken said that recent highlights like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, new relations with Cuba, the Iran nuclear deal, the inaugural U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and brokering a deal at the United Nations Climate Change Conference show how the State Department is continuing to provide a central role in global diplomacy, despite rumblings of flagging American influence abroad.

"When we hear the argument that America is somehow on the retreat, that we have abdicated our responsibility to lead, I couldn't disagree more. I think exactly the opposite is true," he said.

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