The Foreign Service Journal, March 2017

34 MARCH 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Joint Interagency Task Force and Special Operations Command. At the strategic level, we have a presence in and regular interaction with the National Security Coun- cil, FBI headquarters, the Joint Staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Maintaining Security Partnerships Over the decades, we have developed security part- nerships across the Defense Department, throughout federal agencies and, significantly, with literally hun- dreds of international organizations and foreign govern- ments. Not just office calls, these are deep, multigenera- tional relationships around the globe, where DSS special agents and subject-matter experts work side by side with counterparts, rolling up their sleeves and doing the tough, critical business of security. Using the latest advances in technology, including personnel emergency tracking devices, remote monitoring of U.S. diplo- matic facilities and other communications systems, the DS Com- In this photo taken during the early 1960s, Director of Security John Reilly (right) holds the cavity resonator listening device found a decade earlier inside a carved wooden image of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented by Soviet officials to the U.S. ambassador to the USSR in 1948. An unidentified special agent points to where the bug had been placed in the carving. Joseph Bezjian, an Office of Security technical officer, discovered the bug with the aid of Ambassador George Kennan in 1952. DEPARTMENTOFSTATE T he U.S. Department of State has had a security office, including special agents, for more than a century. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) and the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) however, were both created in 1985 and codified under U.S. law in the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and AntiterrorismAct of 1986. Ever since, there has been significant overlap and confu- sion about the difference between DS and DSS. In the simplest terms, a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary of State heads the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The bureau is responsible for over- seeing State Department law enforcement, security and protection programs abroad and at home. DS also works with policymakers on diplomatic security matters, including responding to queries from Congress. DSS, by comparison, is the day-to-day law enforcement and security operation within DS. Under the 1986 omnibus law, DSS must be headed by a career Senior Foreign Service or Senior Executive Service officer with demonstrated experience in security, law enforcement and public adminis- tration. The director of DSS also serves as principal deputy assistant secretary of State for DS, and is responsible for recruiting and overseeing the State Department’s special agents, security engineering officers, security technical spe- cialists, diplomatic couriers and numerous other security professionals and support personnel. In other words, DS promotes the mission, while DSS are the people who carry out that mission. As the law enforcement and security arm of the U.S. Department of State, DS is responsible for providing a safe and secure environment for the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. As a federal law enforcement organization, DSS implements the State Department’s worldwide law enforce- ment and protective security mission. In common usage, and in the conduct of diplomacy, there is no hard and clear line separating the two. Trying to define the boundaries of that line has, over the past three decades, led to many animated and passionate discussions among Diplomatic Security professionals and our numer- ous federal and international partners.We are all proud members of DS. —B.A.M. DS or DSS?