The Foreign Service Journal, March 2017

38 MARCH 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL recent initiative is ATA’s Special Program for Embassy Aug- mentation and Response, which improves host governments’ capabilities to provide direct security support to U.S. diplomatic missions. In addition, because DS is the U.S. government’s sub- ject-matter expert when it comes to civilian police-to-police anti- terrorism training programs, DOD is seeking closer collaboration with the bureau on training civilian foreign police agencies. The bureau’s Rewards for Justice program is another example of the vital contribution DS makes to the U.S. government’s efforts to combat and defeat global terrorism, and illustrates how law enforcement is used as an instrument of national power. RFJ’s overall direction and actions are personally authorized by the Secretary of State. Since its establishment in 1984, the program has disbursed more than $125 million to at least 80 indi- viduals in return for vital information that not only prevented or successfully resolved acts of international terrorism, but brought to justice some of the world’s most notorious terrorists. RFJ continues to strengthen relationships among the State Department, interagency partners and the National Security Council. Further, RFJ works directly with strategic and opera- tional units of the Defense Department and the interagency community, giving DS a unique opportunity to support broader counterterrorism goals. Protecting People Terrorists use hostages to influence U.S. policy and intimidate the general public. Recent events, including the capture and exe- cution of U.S. citizens by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and the subsequent broadcast of videos of these atrocities on social media, have refocused U.S. efforts to counter this long-time threat. In June 2015 President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13696 and Presidential Policy Directive 30 to establish the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, the Hostage Response Group and the position of the Spe- cial Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. In response, DS expanded its worldwide Personnel Recovery program, which trains U.S. government personnel assigned abroad to prevent and respond to a hostage incident, or any other incident which results in a U.S. citizen being separated from “friendly forces.” DS is fully integrated into both the policy and operational aspects of the U.S. government’s Personnel Recovery effort; its deputy assistant secretary for threat investigations and analysis is a Hostage Response Groupmember. Of course, the bureau’s central mission is to foster a safe and secure environment for U.S. diplomatic activities. To accomplish this, DS special agents, security engineering officers and techni- cal specialists, couriers, Marine security guards and local staff— supported by a cadre of Civil Service and contractor personnel— manage a host of programs. Though most of these programs are not new, the resources and technologies they now employ are. They include: • Biometrics and polygraphs to conduct local background investigations; • The $400-million Foreign Affairs Security Training Center under construction at Fort Pickett, Virginia, which will carry out more consolidated and comprehensive training of civilian foreign affairs personnel assigned overseas; • Armored vehicles with improved communications and countermeasures; • Tactical operations centers tied to global personal tracking and locating technologies; • A refocusing of the Marine security guard mission from the protection of classified information to the protection of mission personnel; • The Marine Security Augmentation Unit, established to pro- vide increased tactical capability to the MSG’s revised mission; and • The multibillion-dollar Worldwide Protective Service con- tract vehicles, which facilitate enhanced static and movement security at our most critical overseas posts. Private-Public Sector Cooperation The Overseas Security Advisory Council sets DS apart from other federal law enforcement agencies and, arguably, all other U.S. government entities. With more than 30 years of service to A DSS special agent prepares for the arrival of a diplomatic motorcade during an evening event in New York City during the 2016 U.N. General Assembly. DEPARTMENTOFSTATE