The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2020 21 “The dangerous and misguided decision to abandon this international agreement cripples our ability to conduct aerial surveillance of Russia, while allow- ing Russian reconnaissance flights over U.S. bases in Europe to continue,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a mem- ber of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, according to a May 21 Politico report. Supreme Court Rules Sudan Must Pay Terror Damages T he U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on May 18 that under the ter- rorism exception of the Foreign Sover- eign Immunities Act, victims of the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania are entitled to punitive damages from Sudan. The bombings, allegedly carried out by al-Qaida and supported by Sudan, killed 224 people and injured thousands. On May 19 the Wall Street Journal reported that the State Department is nearing a deal with Sudan to resolve the claims, though this plan is controversial and opposed by some of the survivors, particularly because of the disparate amounts provided to victims of the attacks based on nationality. Sudan is led by a transitional govern- ment after a coup d’état overthrew Omar al-Bashir, whose 30-year reign included charges of genocide. U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that they expected the impoverished country would not be able to pay the full amount. Sudan is one of four countries the State Department has designated a state sponsor of terrorism, and the country’s new government hopes to be removed from the list. According to a congressional aide, victims would receive more than $300 million. Victims’ lawyers say the Ameri- can plan “would pay $10 million for each U.S. government employee who was an American national when killed, but only $800,000” for each Foreign Service national, according to the Wall Street Journal . Half of the victims would get nothing at all under the Supreme Court rul- ing “because it requires Sudan to pay surviving family members only if they were American citizens on the day of the attack,” Doreen Oport, who worked for the embassy in Nairobi and now lives in Texas, wrote in a June 8 column in The Washington Post . A State Department official told the WSJ : “While no amount of money can compensate for the loss of life and injuries that were suffered in the attacks on our embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, the agreement under discussion would secure significant compensa- tion for both U.S. national and non-U.S. national victims of those attacks.” A Federal District Court in Washing- ton, D.C., found in 2011 that Sudan had “provided crucial assistance to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden” in carrying out the embassy bombings. Senate Approves Foreign Service Day Resolution I n the May Talking Points, we reported on a Senate resolution celebrating Foreign Service Day, introduced by the co-chairs of the Foreign Service Caucus, Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). We are pleased to report that on June 11 the full Senate passed that resolu- tion (S. Res. 556), which recognizes the men and women who have served, or are presently serving, in the U.S. Foreign Service, by unanimous consent. Diplomacy Museum Celebrates Bringing Americans Home B y early June, the State Department had repatriated more than 100,000 Americans from 136 countries and territories and responded to more than 75,000 calls dur- ing the coronavirus pandemic. The National Museum of American Diplomacy has put together an online exhibit, Bringing #AmericansHome, chronicling these efforts. Visit the exhibit at bit.ly/bring-americans-home.