THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 41 When U.S. diplomats are attacked, when there is credible evidence of a plot to kill them, the government they serve owes them an accounting. I have served the American people for 28 years with USAID, much of that time in difficult and high-threat postings. I believe deeply in our work, in our calling. And the hardest chapter, harder in some ways than the day the gates gave way, was what came after. A Painful Return Approximately one month following the attack, I evacuated to Brazzaville, and then on to the United States. Three months later, I returned to the DR Congo. Not to rebuild. Not to continue the mission. I returned to shut it down. With my deputy mission director and deputy executive officer, I spent May through July 2025 overseeing the closure of a $1.3 billion annual USAID program for the Central Africa region—negotiating separation agreements, shuttering mission facilities, supervising pack-outs, and looking approximately 250 Congolese and regional staff in the eye as I told them their jobs were gone. These were people who had worked alongside us with dedication and professionalism. The losses among our contractors and grantees were incalculable. USAID programming had almost certainly been one of the largest employers in the country. Closing it was the final chapter of my Foreign Service career, and it was among the most painful things I have ever been asked to do. Angelique and I know we are fortunate to be alive, and we know how close the margin was. We also acknowledge the legitimacy of the question: “Why was Angelique even there?” We can only say that while we took precautions, we had never had the slightest whiff of a threat or hostility toward her. We had lived in other tough places. I am not writing this in search of sympathy. I am writing this because it deserves to be on the record and because the absence of any apparent reckoning at the center of this story begs explanation. When Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in Benghazi in 2011, the U.S. government responded with extensive investigations, congressional hearings, and years of public scrutiny. Whatever one thought of how that process unfolded, the principle behind it was sound: When U.S. diplomats are attacked, when there is credible evidence of a plot to kill them, the government they serve owes them an accounting. The evidence in this case, though clearly anecdotal, points toward a planned and organized attempt to assassinate a senior U.S. diplomat and his wife while they were posted abroad in service to the United States. We escaped. But we escaped by minutes, and not by design. There is no doubt in our minds that if we had stayed in that house much longer, we would have been killed. I close by thanking the assistant RSO and his team who came to our rescue. They saved our lives, and for that we are eternally grateful. n The author and his spouse, Angelique. COURTESY JOHN DUNLOP
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=