The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2023

40 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FEATURE O f all the horrible images and tragic stories to emerge in 2022, the combat-style attack on Fourth of July parade attendees in Highland Park, Illinois, stands out for me. The assailant in this merciless act aimed to exact lethal casualties, stirring memories of what I had witnessed as a Foreign Ser- vice officer on the battlefield in Vietnam in the late 1960s. But it was the picture of little 2-year-old Aiden McCarthy wandering about in bloodied clothes, saved from death by being covered by his father’s body, that prompted a particularly vivid recollection from my Foreign Service career: In 1997, in Cambodia, my wife and I had a very similar terror-filled experience, covering our children. Foreign Service crisis management can involve your own family. A career FSO and ambassador recalls his harrowing experience in Cambodia, and the lessons learned. BY KENNETH M . QU I NN When Terror Strikes Home CoveringOur ChildrenWhile Protecting All Americans Kenneth M. Quinn served as U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia from 1996 to 1999. During a 32-year Foreign Service career, he was assigned for five years in Vietnam during the war, at the National Security Council, and as deputy chief of mission in the Philippines during two coup attempts. He received the State Department's Award for Heroism and is the only three-time recipient of the AFSA awards for intellectual courage and dissent. He is president emeritus of the World Food Prize and resides in Des Moines, Iowa.