The Foreign Service Journal, March 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2017 33 and cybersecurity, as well as cyber infrastructure. As DS meets the evolving security needs of the Depart- ment of State, the challenge of finding and vetting high-cali- ber personnel also increases. Each year, DS investigators conduct more than 30,000 background security clear- ance investigations for U.S. government employees. In addition to state-of-the- art training for our own DS personnel to be leaders in their fields, every year we also train thousands of other members of the U.S. Foreign Service. As we have learned over past decades, and continue to learn, security is not just the responsibil- ity of a few elite special agents. Soon every mem- ber of the Foreign Service heading overseas will receive some level of DS training. Recent attacks in the United States and Europe drive home the fact that even locations traditionally thought “safe” carry an inherent level of risk in the modern world of globally connected extremist groups. Not that many years ago, being a DSS special agent meant wearing a suit and earpiece while discreetly carrying a weapon. But times and threats change. Today DSS operates on tacti- cal, operational and strategic levels that were unimaginable a generation ago. Tactically, we’re located at U.S. embassies and mis- sions around the world; in our domestic field offices, resident offices and headquarters; and as liaisons across federal agencies. Operationally, we have a presence within FBI field offices, joint counterterrorism task forces, the National Counterterrorism Center, Department of Defense geographic combatant command headquarters, the The Department of State’s first chief special agent, Joseph “Bill” Nye, served from 1917 to 1920. Photo: Library of Congress their lives to provide a secure environment for the conduct of American diplomacy. We’ve been using the phrase “a tradi- tion of vigilance” to mark our centen- nial. Vigilance means more than just keeping our eyes open. Ide- ally, we are not just watchful or simply observant. We have to be ready to take action, often in dangerous or fast-evolving sit- uations that directly threaten the safety of Americans. As the people who represent our nation conduct their essential work throughout the world, we know that danger could strike at any time. We expect it. We prepare for it. We plan for it and equip ourselves for it. Meeting Evolving Needs Over the past decade and a half, DSS has protected American diplomacy in increasingly challenging environments. We have supported frontline diplomacy in Iraq and Afghanistan, responded to the upheavals of the Arab Spring, coordinated multiple evacuations, and experienced scores of attacks on our embassies and missions—far too many of them deadly. Since the 9/11 terror attacks, there have been more than 290 significant attacks against U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel. In that time, more than 90 security professionals—Americans and our foreign partners—have lost their lives protecting American diplomats. Every U.S. diplomatic mission in the world oper- ates under a security program designed and maintained by the Diplomatic Security Service. DS personnel protect the Secretary of State wher- ever he or she may be, as well as foreign ministers and other high-ranking dignitaries visiting the United States. We also protect American athletes at international sporting events. We investigate passport and visa fraud and monitor insider threats We are members of the Foreign Service, and we take seriously the fact that we live and work with those we enable and protect.