The Foreign Service Journal, June 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2018 21 Kala Bokelman has been a Diplomatic Security special agent for 12 years. Her domestic assignments include the San Francisco Field Office and Washington, D.C., headquarters. She has also served as the assistant regional security officer (ARSO) in Maputo and Baghdad, and ARSO-Investigator in San Jose. In April she returned to DS for a domestic assignment in the Overseas Criminal Investigative Division. Roughly half of her time in DS has been spent investigating crimes involving human trafficking, sexual assault and fugitive returns. She and her partner have two children. State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security is uniquely equipped to tackle transnational crime. Here’s one example of a recent success. BY KALA BOKE LMAN O n June 8, 2017, at 5:30 a.m., after a two-year investigation into a child pornography trafficking ring, I stood outside the home of one of the alleged main perpetrators waiting to finally knock on his door. This knock was a long time com- ing, and was one of 11 arrests and 13 search warrants simultaneously DS Diplomacy Works: Breaking Up a Child Pornography Trafficking Ring COVER STORY BACKGROUND: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/NIKOLAVUKOJEVICGIRL. ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/A-WRANGLER