Hacking for Diplomacy

What is H4Diplomacy?

Hacking for Diplomacy (H4Diplomacy) is a mission-driven entrepreneurship program that engages academia to tackle State Department challenges through accredited, project-based courses.

H4Diplomacy is sponsored by the Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

Our Vision

Building today’s innovators to tackle tomorrow’s threats.

H4Diplomacy is an opportunity for talented university students in the United States to apply their knowledge directly toward solving real State Department issues.

Our Value

Hear from former problem sponsors and DOS leadership about how our program delivers:

For me personally, any contribution to solving this issue or improving this issue, it helps me sleep at night... It's a serious deal, so it brings me more gratification to my job and more satisfaction that I'm actually making a contribution.

- Tyler Wood, Security Engineering Officer and DOS problem sponsor

We have had the luxury of understanding and designing solutions over the course of years; RIT students took on the challenge and found solutions within weeks. They asked the right questions, they researched and spoke authoritatively regarding the solutions they wanted to implement, and they integrated feedback from CTS into their final proposal.

- Jake Trigoboff, CIRT Cloud Lead, DOS Problem Sponsor

…bringing that approach, bringing that perspective brought forward answers that I don’t think we would have come to doing it on our own in Washington. So we need to make this shift too, and the changes we’re making at State I think will help us to do that.

- Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken at the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence's (NSCAI) Global Emerging Technology Summit, July 13, 2021

I want to salute all of you for first and foremost your interest in taking on this challenge. I want to salute your creativity, your tenacity, your problem solving, to come up with some great ideas here to work through these challenges that we put to all of you.

- John Bass, DOS Under Secretary for Management

We have been so impressed by the high caliber of work produced by the students as well as their professionalism and determination to find the best solutions for the complex, real world challenges set before them.

- Gharun Lacy, DOS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cyber and Technology Security

Impact Through Innovation

PROGRAM EXPANSION

Semesters operated in the US

Universities participated

Bureaus and Offices served

Problems made solvable

SOLUTIONS DEPLOYED

PROGRAM PARTICIPATION

Problems worked on by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security

Problems worked on by the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation

Problems worked on by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

SEE ALL CASE STUDIES

Learn How the H4Diplomacy Program Works

See Program Overview

See Problems We’ve Worked On

From advancing cybersecurity to improving counter-UAS systems, see how our student teams solve contemporary challenges.

Case Studies

Overwatch: Designing the Next Generation C-UAS Interface

Diplomatic Security’s Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) operators in Post Alpha need a more centralized interface that autonomously gathers data from multiple C-UAS sensors and feeds the most relevant information into one single view.

Caught on Camera

Design engineers responsible for upgrading cameras at embassies need a policy that accounts for the capabilities of newly purchased high definition digital camera equipment in order to reduce costs and ensure full surveillance coverage of the compound to monitor for potential threats.

Outsmarting Smart Device

Political and economic officers at embassy Brussels need to be alerted when their personal devices’ unauthorized wireless capabilities are enabled in Controlled Access Areas (CAAs) in order to prevent adversaries from using wireless signals to collect classified information.

Critical Communication

Security response teams at U.S. government diplomatic and consular facilities need to have simultaneous secure, reliable, and mobile routes of communication during threat incidents in order to avoid misunderstandings and confusion to avoid lost lives.

User Behavior Analytics

Network defenders in the Monitoring and Incident Response Division need a more reliable way to detect behavioral anomalies in order to counter malicious activity on DOS networks before incidents occur.

Less than Lethal

On-site security personnel at US embassies in the Middle East region need a Less-Than-Lethal (LTL) security systems that can be used multiple times in a short period of time in order to prevent large groups of attackers from breaching the facility..

Taking Inventory

Security engineering officers (SEOs) and security technical specialists (STSs) at overseas offices need a more streamlined way to account for on-site security technology assets in order to reduce the over-reporting of inventory shortages that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Mystery Risks

The Countermeasures Program Division (CMP), headquarters, and regional security teams needs to, in real-time, identify the changing environment or forensic variables in embassies to help predict security risks, like the Havana syndrome, in order to more quickly gather environmental data and potentially save lives.

High Latency, Higher Stakes

Security engineering officers and security technical specialists need a better way to determine the lifespans of explosive detection and X-ray equipment for over 2,000 worldwide units in order to reduce cost and increase time efficiency to fortify the physical security of U.S. embassies and consulates.

See All Case Studies

Ready To Get Started?

Submit a problem for the next H4Diplomacy cohort.

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Hacking for Diplomacy

Next Generation Talent Tackling Your Toughest Problems

What is H4Diplomacy?