The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2005

already knew: It can happen any- where! 9/11 strengthened CMT’s resolve to stay abreast of interna- tional terrorism, especially poten- tial use of chemical or biological agents, and above all to help posts answer a critical question: Are you prepared? Unexpected Crisis Management Experiences When my husband was posted to Africa, I left Washington, but not CMT. I lived in Africa, and took over training for most of those posts. I knew the continent already, hav- ing lived in five African countries and worked as an anthropologist in the Sahara. But my new job was dif- ferent: It involved traveling on some of the world’s most unreliable airlines to unpredictable environments. Sometimes I have thought the hardest thing for me as a crisis management trainer is to manage the crises involved in simply getting from place to place in Africa. One day I left Cotonou, on the West African coast, and headed to Ouagadougou. Though that city is inland, on the edge of the Sahara, the airplane started west along the coast after it left Cotonou. We’ll turn northward soon , I thought. After a long time, I asked the flight attendant, “Why are we still flying along the coast? When will we turn north? Aren’t we going to Ouagadougou?” “What?” she answered. I pointed out the window to the ocean and, in my most polite French, said, “Madame, Ouagadougou is not on the coast. Where are we going?” She said that she didn’t know, either. A horrible thought hit me: We’re being taken hostage! I could see the headlines: “Crisis Management Trainer Taken Hostage During Crisis Management Training.” Finally we landed in Lomé, where I learned that a sandstorm in Ouagadougou had forced our flight to divert to Togo. Our embassy in Lomé graciously took me in until the storm abated and the flight could go on to Burkina Faso, where the dusty RSO greeted his equally dusty visitor. We shook off the dust and headed into the embassy to start the exercise. On another occasion, getting me to Freetown, Sierra Leone, was that embassy’s first crisis management exer- cise scenario. I already knew the difficulties involved in getting across the bay between Lungi International Airport and Free- town, but I arrived at the airport to find that I was truly stuck. The helicopter shuttle was not operat- ing, the hovercraft was not work- ing and the ferry was not moving. Well, I thought, this will be the first time I haven’t been able to make it. I simply can’t get to Freetown. No CMT at this post. And then the cavalry appeared. Actually, it was the RSO in the embassy’s boat. After hearing about my sit- uation and the failed shuttle systems, he found a solution — he brought Embassy Freetown’s emergency and evacuation boat to get me. When I saw the boat bobbing offshore, I rolled up my slacks and waded out to meet it. Some local residents put my luggage on their heads and off they went to the boat, too. Welcome to Freetown! Crisis management training was on schedule, thanks to the RSO’s quick thinking and boat-piloting skills. The Purpose Working in crisis management training makes all of us at CMT more aware of dangers around the world, and some hit uncomfortably close to home. I arrived in one country to find a terrorist had tried to blow up my hotel earlier that same day. On another trip, as I prepared to board my flight I learned a coup d’état had just occurred at the next training stop. (I didn’t go.) As a crisis management trainer, I’ve worked in dozens of countries around the world, including most of Africa. I can’t even imagine how many air miles I have flown. My fellow trainers in the CMT Division have had similar experiences and faced similar challenges all over the world, as we provide training to each of our posts every two years. Currently, there are eight of us on the crisis management team at FSI who regularly go “on the road.” Other staff members from CMT, and sometimes from the State Department Operations Center, occa- sionally join us on our training schedule around the world. As much as I enjoy my job, I never forget its critical purpose: helping Foreign Service colleagues build skills and knowledge to save lives when disaster strikes.  F O C U S 58 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 5 The process reviews the broadest possible range of a post’s Emergency Action Plan and tests it to make sure the plan would really work in a crisis.