The Foreign Service Journal, March 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2017 43 The diversity of cultural backgrounds, experiences and language skills among DS ranks is a key to the bureau’s success in safeguarding U.S. diplomacy around the world. THE DS MELTING POT Rhonda (RJ) Bent Rabetsivahiny is a Diplomatic Security supervisory special agent who joined the For- eign Service in 2002. She has served overseas in Paris, Antananarivo and Tegucigalpa, as well as in multiple domestic assignments, including the New York Field Office, Secretary of State’s Protective Detail and her current assignment in the Office of Domestic Facilities Protection. I n the U.S. law enforcement community, Diplomatic Security has a reputation for being a bit of a melting pot. Unlike other law enforcement agencies that hire for a narrowly defined skill set, DS needs and attracts people from a variety of backgrounds. Given the enormity of the DS mission—to provide a safe and secure environment for the conduct of U.S. foreign policy—as well as the geographic range of its respon- sibilities, DS special agents cannot easily be catego- rized. Although DS attracts large numbers of applicants with law enforcement or military backgrounds, agents come from diverse cultural backgrounds and bring a wide range of experience. DS special agents must be truly dedicated to the job, and to their country. Therefore, one of the requirements is to hold U.S. citizenship. Within DS ranks, there are numerous agents who are immigrants or children of immigrants. Their multicultural backgrounds contribute to making DS a stronger, more dynamic organization. At the same time, the DS career path allows them to best utilize their rich cultural backgrounds, experiences and foreign language skills on a daily basis. FOCUS SECURING DIPLOMACY DS agent immigrants, or children of immigrants, came to the United States by many routes, and for many reasons. Some came as refugees; some were adopted by American families; some sought better opportunities. In other cases, their parents bravely made the sacrifices of immigrating in order to give their children a better life. DS Stories In May 1982, at the age of 15, Tony Hornik-Tran escaped from Vietnam, accompanied by his brother. The two sailed to the Philippines on a fishing boat. There he spent 11 months in refu- gee camps, finally making it to the United States, where he was adopted by an American family. In the span of just two decades, he went from being a refugee to a DS special agent and diplomat. Brianna May was adopted from Colombia when she was 8 months old. Her father, then a DS agent, was serving there during the Pablo Escobar period. He and his wife were one of the first families to adopt a child from Colombia. May explains that both the U.S. ambassador and his wife were very involved in her adop- tion process. The ambassador’s wife even accompanied May’s parents to the orphanage to pick her up. “I thought the ambassa- dor’s wife was actually my grandmother,” May says, because she was in all of the adoption-day photos. In 1949, Christopher Gu’s maternal grandfather, who worked for a British shipping company, was at sea when the communists assumed control of China. Unable to return home, he eventually made it to New York City and began working in the restaurant business. In the 1970s, Gu’s grandfather and a few fellow ship- BY RHONDA ( RJ ) BENT RABETS I VAH I NY