The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2023

30 JULY-AUGUST 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL the purview of this act occurs, the DOJ will be designated as the lead agency for the U.S. government and will make every effort to notify victims that might be eligible to make a claim to the USVSST Fund and in each case provide all of the informational material. To do that, the DOJ will undertake to reach, but not be limited to, the following: 1. U.S. government employees and contractors . The DOJ will notify employing agencies and require that said agencies notify their employees. Payroll data can be used to identify which employees would have been potential victims of said attack. 2. Private U.S. citizens . In an overseas setting, the DOJ will request that the appropriate U.S. embassy provide information to all U.S. citizens registered with the embassy. 3. Overseas schools . In an overseas setting, the DOJ will ensure that pertinent information is provided to the schools that the majority of the U.S. citizen dependents attend. 4. When an event involves U.S. service members , the DOJ will coordinate with the Department of Defense on all matters pertaining to identification and eligibility. 5. In the event of a qualifying attack on U.S. soil , the DOJ will also coordinate with local officials to notify victims. A more sweeping but obviously welcome change in the law would be for the USVSST to determine by themselves which events qualify and allow victims to apply directly to the fund without having to spend years going through the judicial process. That would also get around any statute of limitations issues. Separately, if victims want to sue the country that sponsored the terrorism, they would still have to go through the courts. n My hope for the future would be that the State Department would notify any and all victims of their possible eligibility for the fund.