The Foreign Service Journal, May 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2015 25 FOCUS Adjusting to regularly changing threat levels while still engaging with society and getting diplomacy done in one of the world’s most dangerous cities— it’s all in a day’s work at Consulate General Karachi. BY M I CHAE L DODMAN Effective Diplomacy After Benghazi ON MANAGING RISK J ust as they did on Sept. 11, 2001, the events of Sept. 11, 2012, changed the operating environment for overseas posts. New proce- dures put in place after the tragic events in Benghazi led to changes that continue to be felt in the field today. I was an active player in that process as the newly arrived consul general in Karachi in the fall of 2012. We had to adjust our daily opera- tions based not just on changing threat levels, but also on shifting perceptions of what constituted acceptable risk. By some counts, there were more demonstrations against the anti-Islam video “Innocence of Muslims” in Karachi than anywhere else in the world. A Sept. 21, 2012, march by more than 100,000 protesters not only shut down the city of 20 million people but resulted in many casualties, prompting the State Department to briefly draw down half our staff. While no other day during my PUBLIC AFFAIRS/CONSULATE GENERAL KARACHI CG Dodman discussing American democracy with local students on election night, November 2012.