The Foreign Service Journal, March 2007

cers are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating all aspects of security at our facilities worldwide and making adjustments as needed.” It is worth noting that in those Iraq PRTs where security is provided by the military, DS does not play a direct role in managing the day-to-day security for Foreign Service personnel. In response to the question, “Are there tripwires in place for the Iraq PRTs?” DS responded that “tripwires are a normal part of emergency planning for all overseas posts. In every post, they are under constant review and change as circumstances require.” To date, PRT Basrah is the only one to have been drawn down. In late 2006, some members of the team were relocated to Kuwait because conditions got too dan- gerous. A U.S. contractor working for the regional embassy office, on the same compound as the PRT, had been killed in his living quarters in September. The num- ber of mortar attacks and rocket fire into the compound was increasing month by month. Here’s how FSO Andrea Gastaldo, serving in the REO in Basrah, des- cribes conditions in early January, following their return: “We have been sleeping in our offices for months. In the spring we had a rocket attack once in six weeks. Now, we’ve had 129 rockets and mortars over the wall in October, 104 in November, 134 for December, and 18 today alone. We are not looking for glory but for some sort of recognition that we are in the hardest hit of all diplomatic compounds in all of Iraq, yet we are still here trying to accomplish the task of engaging the Iraqis and promoting democracy. We are in a war zone, where you cannot walk around at dark without your Kevlar and helmet on and where all the staff can differentiate between a rocket, mortar and RPG [rocket- propelled grenade], with no formal training.” The Special IG report noted the unstable security situation in the southern provinces, concluding that “we question whether the con- tinued deployment of PRT person- nel to Anbar and Basrah … makes operational sense at this time.” The Pencil Problem In addition to the restrictions posed by security conditions, the PRTs have faced the more mundane, but also challenging, issues of how to obtain the tools and set up the infrastructure they need to work. Many new PRTs were established without basic support systems in place and without office supplies — and in some cases without offices. Lacking desks, com- puters, phones, and even paper and pens, team members had to solve what has been called “the pencil problem” on their own. “The PRTs lacked funding and logistical supply re- sources,” according to the Special IG report. “Opera- tional budgets initially were not authorized for the PRT program. Accordingly, they functioned without dedicated operating budgets that were needed for purchasing basic office supplies or sundry items for official functions. … They also functioned without any access to using the base logistics system. … An inordinate amount of their time and attention was devoted to solving support issues as opposed to substantively engaging with their Iraqi coun- terparts. … The consensus among the interviewed PRT leaders was that no PRT should be started until the req- uisite operational and infrastructure support were in place.” Foreign Service PRT members who spoke with the FSJ reiterated these concerns. “I have spent most of my time in Iraq (nearly nine months) fighting for resources and funds rather than being out working with Iraqis,” says Diyala TeamLeader Kiki Munshi. “Until recently, we had no operating budget. The motto of the PRT was, ‘If it’s F O C U S 32 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 7 Mosul from the air.