> US departments all work together to achieve a Foreign Policy aim My interpretation wasn't that they're working together, i.e. coordinating, more like acting

> US departments all work together to achieve a Foreign Policy aim My interpretation wasn't that they're working together, i.e. coordinating, more like acting in unison where they are each given a different pressure-point to attack suited to their innate abilities or field. So a central goal would be established at the highest level and you give a task to each entity that can contribute in their own separate ways to that goal - e.g. a newspaper leaks something that will destabilize something. An NGO will support a particular group with food, AID, legal advice, protection. A diplomat will call in some favors. They're all doing different things with different effects that will hopefully contribute towards the greater goal, which would also explain how things can go pear-shaped if it doesn't all lock together into a cohesive outcome.