The Foreign Service Journal, September 2005

Challenges As we move into the future, there is no doubt that our principal challenge will be confronting the increasing worldwide terrorist and counterintelligence threats. We also face very real security challenges in a number of regions around the world where the State Department and other foreign affairs agencies operate amidst groups extremely hostile to the United States. The recently enacted Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act directs the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to expand significantly its role and responsibilities. The law, enacted in December 2004, gives DS the lead for developing a national strategy to combat visa and passport fraud. Among other initia- tives, we will establish a criminal analysis branch that will enable us to recognize and counter trends in visa and passport fraud. This new unit should be fully oper- ational by the end of 2005. Another immediate challenge is cyber security. DS is responsible for protecting the State Department’s worldwide network of systems and information. Yet malicious cyber activity — including attempts to gath- er intelligence and launch attacks — is on the rise around the world. The department daily defends against hundreds of thousands of probes and scans launched against its sensitive networks. Thanks to our network defense programs, however, we are able to detect, block, defend against and investigate most of these malicious activities. In addition, DS employs a robust suite of programs and tools that provide timely and accurate intelligence reports, threat analyses and policy recommendations. The Department of State’s mission is critical, and the threats we face are real and growing. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security will confront these threats with courage, creativity and a solemn commitment to pro- vide a secure environment for the conduct of American diplomacy. n F O C U S S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 37