The Talking Points Instruction Cable

Function and provenance

The talking-points instruction cable is the operational instrument by which a foreign ministry directs a chief of mission to convey a specific message to a host government. In U.S. practice it is transmitted via the State Department's classified cable system (formerly SMART, now the Department of State Telegraph system) under the signature of the Secretary of State, even when drafted by a desk officer three layers below. In the British system the equivalent is the FCDO telegram; in the French MAE it is the télégramme diplomatique (TD) carrying a plan d'action. The cable's authority derives from Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), which obliges missions to conduct official business with the host state through its ministry of foreign affairs or another agreed channel — the cable is the internal instruction that triggers that external conduct.

Standard structure

A properly drafted instruction cable contains seven elements, in fixed order. First, a classification and caption line (e.g., SECRET//NOFORN, with captions such as STADIS or NODIS restricting distribution). Second, an action addressee — a specific embassy or set of posts — and information addressees including relevant regional bureaus, USNATO, USUN, and allied capitals when coordination is required. Third, a subject line in the imperative: "Démarche Request: Sanctions Coordination on DPRK Vessel Reflagging." Fourth, a summary paragraph, typically labeled "1. (C) SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST," stating in three to five sentences what post is being asked to do, by when, and at what level (foreign minister, political director, MFA desk). Fifth, background providing the policy rationale and recent diplomatic history. Sixth, the talking points proper, numbered and marked "Begin Points" / "End Points," written in the first person as if spoken by the démarcheur. Seventh, a reporting requirement specifying the deadline by which post must transmit a reply cable, and a point of contact at the desk.

The talking points themselves

Talking points are drafted to be read aloud or paraphrased verbatim. They observe three conventions. Each point is a single declarative sentence or short paragraph. Points are sequenced from least to most demanding: opening courtesies, statement of shared interest, specific request or warning, and a closing that previews consequences or next steps. Sensitive language — "the United States cannot accept," "we would view such action as inconsistent with" — is cleared at the assistant secretary level or higher, and in cases involving the use of force, at the deputy secretary or NSC level under NSPM-4 (2017) procedures.

A representative example: the 4 March 2014 démarche cable instructing Embassy Moscow and all OSCE posts to convey the U.S. position on Russia's incursion into Crimea contained twelve talking points, an annex of legal citations (UN Charter Article 2(4), Helsinki Final Act, 1994 Budapest Memorandum), and a 24-hour reporting deadline. Posts delivered the démarche to host MFAs within 36 hours, generating a coordinated diplomatic record used at the UN Security Council session of 15 March 2014.

Drafting authority and clearance

No instruction cable leaves Main State without clearance. The drafting desk officer routes the cable through the office director, the deputy assistant secretary, the regional assistant secretary, and functional bureaus (L for legal, INR for intelligence equities, EB for economic, T for arms control). Inter-agency clearance — DoD, Treasury OFAC, NSC directorate — is required when the points commit the U.S. to action by another department. The cable is released by the Executive Secretariat (S/ES-O) after final review.

Delivery mechanics

Upon receipt, the post's DCM or political counselor assigns the démarche to the officer of appropriate rank — first secretary for working-level MFA contacts, ambassador for foreign minister or head-of-government delivery. Protocol dictates that requests for ministerial appointments transit the MFA's protocol office or chef de cabinet, citing the urgency level set in the cable. Where the instruction specifies "deliver at the highest appropriate level," the ambassador exercises judgment based on the host capital's responsiveness; in Riyadh or Beijing this may mean a vice foreign minister, in Tallinn the foreign minister personally.

The démarcheur reads or paraphrases the points, answers clarifying questions within the scope of the instruction, and explicitly declines to extemporize beyond it. The standard formula — "I will report your response to my capital" — is not a courtesy but a binding limit on the diplomat's authority under the doctrine of ad referendum: nothing said in the meeting commits the sending state absent confirmation from headquarters.

The reporting cable

Within the deadline specified (typically 24 to 72 hours), post transmits a reporting cable structured as: classification, subject ("Démarche Delivered: [topic]"), summary, the host government's response in indirect discourse, atmospherics (tone, body language, presence of note-takers), and the drafting officer's analytical comment marked "7. (C) COMMENT." The comment is the post's value-added — the political officer's read on whether the host is signaling flexibility, stalling, or rejecting the request. Comment paragraphs are read carefully in Washington and often shape the next instruction.

Common failure modes

Four pathologies recur. Over-drafting: cables of forty talking points overwhelm the démarcheur and the host interlocutor; the discipline is to identify the three points that must land. Stale background: desk officers recycle paragraphs from prior cables without updating recent developments, embarrassing post when the host raises a fact the cable ignored. Unclearable language: points containing commitments the drafter lacks authority to make — promises of military assistance, sanctions relief, or visa actions — are stripped in clearance, sometimes hollowing out the démarche. Missed deadlines: a cable arriving at post on Friday evening for Monday morning delivery, particularly across time zones, generates noncompliance the desk then misreads as host-government resistance.

The 2013 Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff review of démarche practice (informal, post-Benghazi) noted that approximately 18 percent of démarche cables in a sampled month received no reporting cable within the specified window, attributable in roughly equal measure to post workload and to instructions that lacked a feasible delivery channel. The remedy, codified in 3 FAM 4180, is desk-post telephonic coordination before the cable is released.