The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 53 violating it. We suggested firms should calculate what they would otherwise have spent on bribes and instead call it an immediate profit. We said the best approach was to shine a spotlight on their competitors’ bribes, something we would help them with. The new Foreign Commer- cial Service Director, Rick McIlhenny, convened an all-Africa/ Middle East commercial counselors’ conference in Nairobi. He insisted that we do a lot of reporting, something FCS officers were not used to doing. I calculated that during the course of my tour we facilitated $20 billion worth of business, and our trade deficit with Nigeria dropped by $2 billion in that time. George Griffin entered the Foreign Service in 1959 and retired after 40 years at 15 posts and several State Department offices. His last postings abroad were as deputy chief of mission in Nairobi and consul general in Milan. Primarily a political officer and South Asia expert, he also served as commercial minister in Lagos and in Seoul. He was the recipient of the 1982 James Clement Dunn Award for managerial excellence, especially in commercial and economic affairs. Keeping Americans Safe During a Civil War Angola, 1999 By Joseph Sullivan U.S. petroleum companies have been exploring and producing oil from offshore sites in Angola for more than 60 years. Since its establishment in 1994, U.S. Embassy Luanda has worked closely with American petroleum companies as they expanded existing production, bid for newly opened exploration areas and estab- lished their operating conditions with the Angolan government. During my time as ambassador to Angola, the final stage of the country’s long civil war erupted and the embassy’s rela- tionship with Chevron, the largest U.S. petroleum producer in Angola, and other American petroleum companies was particularly intense on the security front. In early 1999, the provincial capital of a province where Chevron had significant operations was briefly overrun. American petroleum companies actively participated in the frequent security meetings conducted by the embassy’s regional security officer as we sought to keep each other safe and the companies sought to protect their multimillion-dollar investments. I, as well as other embassy officers, traveled several times a year to Chevron’s iso- lated offices and production facilities in the northern Cabinda province to meet and offer support and reassurance to the many Americans working there. American company representatives consulted frequently with me and with the embassy’s economic/commercial officer on their plans and operations. On issues where the embassy could assist, such as the renewal of Chevron’s exploration and production lease, I advocated for the companies on behalf of the U.S. government with the Angolan government. During that same period, Exxon-Mobil consulted closely with the embassy and bid successfully on several major offshore petroleum exploration blocks. (It has since become a major producer of petroleum from its deepwater blocks in Angola.) In addition, the embassy offered advice and support as Chevron and other U.S. petroleum companies launched significant social responsi- bility activities in Angola. The embassy and the oil industry worked together during this time, enabling the companies to maintain, even expand, operations and production through the most difficult and dangerous years. Since then, Chevron alone has surpassed five billion barrels of petroleum production from its fields in Angola, while Chevron and Exxon-Mobil each produce more than 100,000 barrels of petroleum a day from their Angolan opera- tions. U.S. Embassy Luanda supported American businesses to function in a difficult environment and worked very closely with American companies to help keep their employees and their facilities safe in the midst of a war. Joseph G. Sullivan served as the U.S. ambassador to Angola from 1998 to 2001. During 38 years as a Foreign Service officer, he also served as ambassador to Zimbabwe, chief of mission in Cuba and deputy assistant secretary for inter-American affairs. Ambassador Sullivan is retired and lives in California. Nigerians were not catalog or internet buyers. They wanted to touch, feel, drive or play with whatever was being sold.