Hacker News Reader

> Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned the Holy See’s then-ambassador to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, to the Pentagon.

Can the DOD do this? This seems more like the purview of State.

The DoW regularly engages foreign ambassadors on defense matters eg military cooperation, NATO issues, basing, security policy, etc

Any exec branch dept can communicate directly with foreign diplomats, and ambassadors are accredited to the USA as a whole, not exclusively to State

> Any exec branch dept can communicate directly with foreign diplomats,

Fair enough, but summoning an ambassador is not a regular form of communication, and well out of the purview of DOD.

That would be following established rules. Such a thing is not the habit of the current administration.