The Foreign Service Journal, September 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2017 61 is an afterthought and the execution is left largely to a contracted security firm. These firms may have a basic understanding of security, but they are not in the diplomacy business. When they first enter our embassies, visitors often encounter a contract security person issuing brusque, Transportation Security Admin- istration–like instructions. That’s not good enough for any U.S. embassy and would be especially unfortunate for an embassy that consciously seeks to project openness through its design. Nor is it necessary to display a lot of firepower, such as having the U.K. police brandishing submachine guns at the gates. (At U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, where I was deputy chief of mission dur- ing the Second Intifada, I never once actually saw the weapons carried by the Israeli guards, but I am confident that we were no less secure.) New Standards of Sustainability One of the reasons the embassy needed to move from Gros- venor Square was the huge utility bill and the aging internal infrastructure. Built at a time when environmental efficiencies were far down the list of requirements, Saarinen’s building was hard to fuel and difficult to maintain. The new embassy will set new standards of sustainability achieved by only a few major buildings anywhere. Having toured the site when it was about 80 percent com- plete, I was stunned to see how both the workspace and the spaces open to the public incorporated outside light based on detailed lighting design. The cutting-edge scrim on three sides of the structure helps manage light and energy. The building will supply and reuse its own water. It will not only conserve power but also be able to sell surplus energy to its neighbors. Once again, however, ensuring that all these systems actually work the way they are supposed to will require conscientious, trained managers. The American “citizens of London” Lynne Olson described were by no means perfect, and they attracted a good deal of criti- cism along the way to becoming respected historical figures. The new embassy should expect the same—architecture critics are a prickly bunch, and I would be astonished if they provide more than grudging acceptance when they write reviews in the com- ing months. However, they should not forget the unique security challenges of building a new U.S. embassy, nor discount the triumph of essentially sparking a now bustling new neighbor- hood in central London. And the ambassadors and staff who occupy this structure should never forget that its principal purpose is to put America’s best face forward. A building is never just a building. n