Perhaps no other nationality is represented more widely abroad than the U.S. American tourists and expats are found just about in every conceivable corner of the world. Unfortunately, many of these travelling and expat Americans get themselves into trouble and seek help from the nearest U.S. diplomatic missions (embassies or consulates). Some are grateful for the help that they receive and acknowledge this by writing thank you letters to their congressmen or back to the diplomatic mission that helped them. Others, believe it or not, never acknowledge the fact that they received help and even go so far as to accuse the U.S. government of not helping them at all! I guess it takes all kinds.
The most under appreciated element of the U.S. missions abroad is the American Citizen Services (ACS) of the Consular Section, sometimes also known as Special Consular Services (SCS). The officers and staff of the ACS/SCS are the ones that visit jailed Americans, find lawyers for them and attend their trials abroad. They try to help Americans in trouble any way they can. Of course they are limited in what they can do. By law, even if they are qualified lawyers, they cannot provide legal advice. They cannot also do anything that goes against the laws of the host nation. Whatever help they provide, they must do so within the confines of local laws and regulations. Sometimes, these restrictions make it almost impossible for the consular officer to give any real help to the American in trouble. However, most find ways to get around the restrictions and some, in order to help the American in trouble, will go so far as to bend the rules, considerably!
Hollywood and television industry never get it right. Their portrayal of US diplomats abroad is always as that of stiff, unfeeling, unsympathetic bureaucrats! I have yet to see a movie or a TV show that portrayed the workings of our diplomatic missions or its personnel abroad accurately. Most shows that claim to portray accurately the activities of a diplomatic mission or the State Department are laughable. This includes the current show that is but a thinly disguised portrayal of a glorified version of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State! Unfortunately, the things that she gets personally involved in doing are totally unrealistic. Simply put, the Secretary of State does not do those things, not even Hillary Clinton!
The amount of time and energy, and tax payers' money spent on helping Americans in trouble is staggering. No other diplomatic missions in the world extend the same degree and level of help to their citizens. Yet, the very same people that receive help seem to be the first to jump on the bandwagon to criticize and accuse the U.S. government of not helping them!
In 1978 Hollywood released a movie, Midnight Express, based on a book written in 1971 by Billy Hayes. Basically, the story is about a young American college student who got caught trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey in 1970. He was arrested and imprisoned. According to Billy's book and the movie that followed, after a horrendous experience in a Turkish prison, he managed to escape from prison and make his way back home. The U.S. Consul who visited him in prison and tried to help him was described as an ineffectual bureaucrat from whom Billy received no help. If you were to believe Billy's description in the book or Hollywood's portrayal in the movie, it would not be difficult to learn to hate this State Department bureaucrat who did not help the poor, naïve, young American.
The truth of the matter is that Billy would have never been able to escape from Turkish prison without the help of the U.S. Consul! Yes, he broke the law when he helped to arrange Billy's escape. Billy was guilty, he did try to smuggle hashish, but the Consul felt sorry for him. He thought that Billy was just a naïve kid and shouldn't languish in prison, so he helped him escape.
It wasn't quite as harrowing or dangerous as described in the book or the movie, but nevertheless, it was the U.S. Consul, at the risk of ruining his own career, who arranged the escape. Yet, he was described as a cold fish, an uncaring bureaucrat in the book and the movie. I knew that particular officer very well, and he prefers to keep things the way Hollywood portrayed it! After all, he did break the law in arranging Billy's escape!
It is absolutely mindboggling the kind of trouble people get into! When I was in Athens in the early 1980s, we used to meet once a month with all of the other Consuls from friendly embassies. Athens being a tourist attraction, there were tourists of all nationalities getting into trouble. My colleagues from European embassies were astounded at the degree of help that we provided. About the only help that most of the others offered their citizens was to provide a new passport if they needed one. We, on the other hand, gave small loans (many times out of pocket), paid for their ticket back to U.S. (repatriation loan), put them up in a hotel if they needed a place to stay, etc. We vigorously negotiated with local authorities before cases went to trial to have the charges dismissed if they weren't too serious. Many times we accomplished this and sent the person back to U.S. without having any prison time. My European colleagues accused us of "spoiling" our citizens abroad! But, according to movies, TV shows, and the news media, we don't do enough.
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