I welcome my colleague, Mary Kissel, Executive Vice President Stevens, Incorporated,

former senior advisor to the Secretary of State in many years with the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong.

I turned to Mary's experience traveling with the Secretary of State, Mr. Pompeo,

anticipating the very important embassy, Marco Rubio is first to Secretary of State, outside the United States, and this time to Central America.

The announcement emphasizes Panama, however, also in the embassy will be Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic.

Notably, not Mexico, not Nicaragua, not Honduras.

Well, we'll speak to what an embassy looks like for the Secretary of State, especially one who is fluent in the language, as knows the culture very well. In fact,

this is a return to the McKinley Times of the Organization of American States being progress,

where attention to the Americas was vital to Washington of the late 19th century and early 20th.

And perhaps Mr. Trump is returning us to those moments because we have a rich resource in the

Americas that are, the general observation is that it's not been employed correctly.

Mary, what does an embassy look like, the Secretary of State?

Are the arrangements beforehand, a document already prepared, the deputies have worked out all the details, and so is for the cameras.

How do you imagine this?

Good evening to you, Mary.

Good evening, too, John.

It's always great to be with you.

Well, before anything else, it's very significant that the Secretary of State's first trip, foreign trip, is within our hemisphere.

As you note, there's a demonstration effect there of the administration's priorities.

It should also signal, like the President has signaled, that we are intent on securing our borders,

and several of these countries are integral to that effort, so it fits with the policy.

It's not just a demonstrative thing.

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