The Foreign Service Journal, February 2006

rorist attacks. If an attack were to occur, the FSOs Mr. Muller speaks of would be expected to do nothing more than take cover. Meanwhile, the agents will be defending the lives of those around them, possibly using deadly force and literally putting their lives on the line. Mr. Muller’s other point is to decry the fact that security has become a major issue in embassy design, loca- tion and access, as if this were done arbitrarily in a world free of crime or terror. We operate in a real world where diplomatic missions in Kenya, Tanzania and Saudi Arabia are attack- ed simply because they are there. DS is charged with providing a safe and secure work environment so that Foreign Service personnel are able to perform their duties, not to keep them from doing so. Everyone is entitled to his opinion, and Mr. Muller has certainly expres- sed his. My disappointment lies in AFSA’s decision to print a letter which contains nothing positive and libels a dedicated group of professionals. James M. Reynolds Special Agent, Diplomatic Security Service Washington, D.C. Honoring Archer Blood Journal readers may remember my “Appreciation” of Archer Blood (December 2004). Blood was consul general in Dhaka from 1970 to 1971, known for sending a series of well- crafted cables to Washington oppos- ing Pakistani atrocities there. The cables resulted in Blood being recalled and his career being tem- porarily side-tracked. In the months that followed publi- cation of the Appreciation, other rec- ollections of Blood appeared in the Journal . In the April 2005 issue, renowned war correspondent Joe Galloway told how Blood helped him cover the story of what was going on in Bangladesh in 1971. Although Blood himself was under a gag order, he made a room available at the con- sulate for Galloway to interview Foreign Service Nationals, many of whom stepped forward and related their own personal tales detailing the horrors under way beyond the con- sulate’s walls. Galloway’s letter was followed by a letter in the May 2005 issue from Blood’s son, Peter, now a senior researcher at the Library of Congress. Following Archer Blood’s death in September 2004, the Liberation War F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 7 L E T T E R S