GovernmentExecutive.com

John Negroponte, a career diplomat who recently gave up his post as national intelligence director to take the No. 2 slot at the State Department, has some words of advice -- or maybe warning -- for newly minted graduates of the Foreign Service Institute, the New York Times reports: Forget about London, Paris and Rome. Take up hardship posts in Baghdad and other hotspots. Key quote: “The impact of our presence at some of those remote places, pound for pound, is really much higher than if you are in Western Europe or somewhere where you kind of blend into the scenery.”