Take advantage of city’s international flavor

The Santa Fe Council on International Relations is holding its annual gala from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 21. The event will be held via Zoom, a platform used to great effect during the course of the pandemic, bringing speakers from all over the world to Santa Fe. The gala will support the council’s high school and college education programs.

The speaker will be James Comey, former FBI director, author and scholar in residence at Columbia Law School. Santa Fe’s Valerie Plame, an author, former congressional candidate and former CIA officer, will moderate the discussion. Comey will be talking about his book, Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency and Trust. The truth, and the varying perceptions of what it means, have become central questions in our society as we are all painfully aware.

Comey at times has been at the center of that debate, whether in 2016 during his public disclosures of the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton over the use of personal email for classified communications or in 2017 over the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the U.S. election. Comey’s view of the essential need for truth stretches across a career in both the Justice Department and the FBI, providing a unique perspective for examining the challenges we face today.

The Santa Fe Center for International Relations feeds Santa Feans with the global perspective for which the city has become well-known. It is incumbent upon us to support the organization in return and help the next generation assume their place as global leaders. We owe it to ourselves to take advantage of opportunities to educate ourselves on the issues of the day, and the extent to which we will hold ourselves accountable to the truth cannot be more vital for the health of our democracy.