The Foreign Service Journal, February 2003

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 25 merican schoolchildren are trapped in a politically torn West African country amid chaos and bloodshed. Savage bombings at two popular nightclubs in Asia leave an unknown number of Americans dead or injured. Rebels storm a Moscow theater and hold the audience hostage — including an unknown number of American tourists. Plane crashes, earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. Americans are caught daily in danger zones beyond our shores. They may be your parents, children, relatives or friends. Not simply headlines in the morning news, these scenarios have become a chilling reality to the many Foreign F O C U S O N D A N G E R Z O N E S A Russell Charpentier R ESPONDING TO C RISES A BROAD : T HE C ONSULAR A FFAIRS R OLE C ONSULAR OFFICERS TRAIN AND PARTICIPATE IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT EXERCISES . B UT NOTHING CAN PREPARE THEM FOR SOME THINGS THEY WILL FACE , AS THESE STORIES SHOW . B Y B ARBARA E NSSLIN