There is a common perception among those who are unfamiliar with our Foreign Service that all those who work for the State Department live in the lap of luxury during their overseas assignments. It may indeed be, that in some countries, that our Foreign Service personnel live in what appear to be luxurious surroundings. But appearances can be deceiving. In many third world (oops! sorry, I am being politically incorrect, I meant "developing") countries, the gap between the "haves" and "have nots" is such that there is no such thing as a "middle class," just the rich and the poor. Consequently, the housing is either what appear to be luxurious, to the uninitiated, or literally, hovels. There is no in between, no middle ground. Therefore, it would be unrealistic to house Foreign Service personnel and their families in the shacks!
But even in housing that may appear luxurious with swimming pools, etc., things aren't what they seem. The basic services (water and electricity) are unreliable with constant interruption and outages. There are always health hazards, food that is unsanitary with vegetables that have to be washed in clorox before eating, etc. Medical services are far from acceptable and any half way serious medical condition has be treated in the U.S or nearest "developed" country, therefore, medical evacuations are common place. The list goes on and on. No, an assignment to one of the "developing" countries is far from a two year "vacation" with hot and cold running servants! But aside from all of the physical inconveniences and health hazards, there is another factor that most people outside of the Foreign Service generally are unaware of.....that is danger, physical danger to the lives of Foreign Service personnel. I don't mean traffic accidents or bad food! I mean actual attacks directed at U.S. Foreign Service personnel by various terrorist groups. This has been going on for ages, since the U.S. Consul in Tripoli was kidnapped by the Barbary pirates, an event immortalized in the lyrics of the Marine Corps Hym! Let me give you some examples, going back to just 1973.
In 1973 U.S. Ambassador Cleo Noel was killed by the Black September Movement. That same year the U.S. Consul General in Guadalajara Mexico, Terence Leonhardy was killed by a terrorist group with leftist ties. The following year in 1974 U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus, Rodger Davis was killed by a separatist group. In 1976 U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Francis Meloy and the Economic Counselor Robert Waring were killed in Beirut. In 1979 U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Adolphus Dubs was kidnapped and killed. That same year, of course, 53 U.S. Embassy employees were taken hostage in Tehran for 333 days! The 1970s were bad years for the U.S. Foreign Service, more senior officers fell victims to terrorist attacks, four Ambassadors, one Consul General, and one Economic Counselor! Essentially, an Ambassador is equal to a four star General while a Consul General and Economic Counselor could be anywhere between a Brigadier General (one star), to a Major General (two star) in rank! So, that was a lot high brass that was lost in the 1970s, not to mention the 53 Foreign Service employees who were held hostage for 333 days!
The 1980s weren't much better. In 1983 The U.S. Embassy in Beirut was bombed killing 63 people, including a visiting CIA Director for Middle East! That same year our Naval Attache in El Salvador was assassinated. In Athens, a naval Captain from JUSMAG was assassinated that same year. In 1984 in Lebannon, Political Officer William Buckley was kidnapped and killed. In 1985 four Marine Guards at the Embassy were killed in El Salvador. In 1988 the Defense Attache in Athens was killed in a car bomb explosion. In 1989 at the U.S. Embassy in Manila Col. James Rowe, a hero of Vietnam, the first American to escape from Viet Cong captivity when he was a young Special Forces lieutenant, was assassinated by a leftist terrorists. Numerically, the 1980s had more casualties than the previous decade!
During the 1990s, the trend continued with assassinations and bombings all around the globe. Just during the eight year period of George W. Bush's two terms, 60 U.S. Foreign Service lives were lost! Of course the trend continued under Obama with incidents like the infamous Benghazi case! The Benghazi case, because it was politicized, is well known to the public. But how about all of those others, hundreds, indeed thousands if you go back further, who died while serving abroad in the Foreign Service! Of course not everyone is specifically targeted, it depends on your job. But still, just being a member of the official United States community makes you a target, and many Foreign Service personnel who did not hold sensitive positions were killed!
Foreign Service is a small community and it is not difficult to get to know a lot of people because your job changes every few years. Many of the people that were killed I knew, some quite well. The navy Captain from JUSMAG in Athens was assassinated a few months after I left Athens. I used to play poker with him every Friday night! Colonel James Rowe I knew from my time in the Special Forces. In the 1990s, a very good and dear friend was killed in the Nairobi bombing. She was a young woman who was like a kid sister to Jo and got married in our house! Then in the Benghazi case, I knew Chris Stevens from Cairo. In fact, a group photo from Cairo which includes Chris, is hanging on the wall just behind the desk from which I am typing this blog!
During my two years in Paraguay, I received numerous death threats and was forced to live with 24 hour guard! In Ecuador, the Consulate General building was attacked on the night of our invasion of Panama. Ecuadorian leftists attacked our building in protest of our invasion. Two grenades were thrown at the building and several shots fired from the protest crowd. It was not a pleasant experience. In Cairo we had armed guards on our house 24/7. So, despite what it may seem like on the outside, life in the Foreign Service is not all wine and roses! Embassies have Marine Guards. But despite Hollywood's portrayal of the MSGs (Marine Security Guards) as having complete control of protecting the embassy, that is not the case. The MSGs are only responsible for security inside the chancery grounds, nothing outside. Outside of the embassy grounds the responsibility befalls local police and guards. You can see how that works or does not work in some countries! Consulate Generals and Consulates do not have MSGs, they are completely dependent on local police and guards. Because of this situation, many Consulates and Consulate Generals have weapons which are assigned to key personnel. Consulate General Guayaquil was such a post and we had handguns, shotguns, and M-16s assigned to us! We were also required to take these weapons out to the range and shoot periodically. So yes, it is not all picnic.
To be sure there are Foreign Service posts around the world, mostly in Europe, where one will rarely face any danger. Also, those Foreign Service officers assigned to Secretary's office or one of the other Washington based offices never have to face such situations. When they go abroad, they stay in hotels and after conducting their business, fly back. Their trips overseas may last as little as few days to as much as a few months. I had that experience when I worked for the Inspector General's Office and we went around inspecting our posts overseas. It is a completely different "overseas" experience from being actually assigned to a post, to some extent you almost feel like a tourist. But regular Foreign Service assignments, especially to "developing" countries, are no picnic. There are not only serious health hazards, and just plain hardship trying to live in places with inadequate basic services, but danger from actual attacks by terror groups.
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