A look inside Kamala Harris’ yearslong crash course in foreign diplomacy

 A July sit-down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became Vice President Kamala Harris’ debut on the world stage.

Despite having met with more than 150 world leaders since becoming VP, this meeting felt different.

“We have a lot to talk about,” she said, before dismissing reporters ahead of the meeting, a moment that captured the complicated dynamics that have colored her foreign policy ambitions, and offered a preview of the type of statesmanship she would pursue as president.

Harris did not enter the job with vast experience on the world stage. Both advisers and foreign officials she’s interacted with say Harris managed to take what was essentially a supporting role and turn it into a crash course in foreign diplomacy. One former senior adviser described the vice president taking home massive briefing books and often peppering staffers with questions as she was briefed on multiple foreign policy issues.

She began, some said, rather scripted and uncertain but emerged within her first year in office as a more confident voice. In meetings, she can appear alternatively warm – searching for commonalities over food or family – and steely, as she holds a firm line on US policy.

Harris advisers argue nothing could have better prepared her to step onto the global stage, should she win the election in November, than her time as vice president.