The Foreign Service Journal, September 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2020 63 the real story is how we’re able to bring together hundreds of officers—representing more than 130 posts and 30 bureaus and offices—to overcome unexpected technological, logistical and diplomatic obstacles to ensure a strong department response and bring Americans home. This is a story of thousands of partners, operating around the clock in every time zone in dozens of locations, with information moving at light speed. When CMS Calls: Activating the Task Force The story began in 1976 in a windowless office on the State Department’s 7th floor. Established as an office within the Opera- tions Center, CMS had three officers who transcribed conversa- tions of senior principals discussing how to manage emergent crises. Since then, CMS has grown while taking on new respon- sibilities in response to crises like the 1998 embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, 9/11 and Benghazi. Today’s 20-person office is nearly equally split between Foreign Service officers and civil servants. Strategically located down the hall from the Secretary of State on the 7th floor of the Harry S Truman building, CMS works at the intersection of policy and operations to develop contingency plans ahead of a crisis and mobilize a response if one is needed. Working with the Watch (our 24/7 counterparts in the Operations Center), we alert senior principals in real time to breaking news events. CMS is perhaps best known for establishing and coordinating the department’s task forces, which are activated when a crisis exceeds the ability of an individual post or a bureau to respond. With the support of the director of the Operations Center and in conjunction with the lead bureau affected by the crisis, CMS then recommends to the executive secretary that a task force is needed to respond effectively. CMS has already done the legwork to make sure that a task force will be operational within 60 minutes of a decision. Once approved, CMS activates subject-matter experts from the department and the interagency to work together, side by side, for a rapid, synchronized and comprehensive response. That task force then serves as the department’s central coordination and information hub, synthesizing situational and operational developments to solve problems, alert and brief senior-level decision-makers and deploy resources in real time. 2020 in Perspective By all accounts, 2020 has been an exceptional year. We typi- cally activate between one and five task forces a year. But well before this year was half over, we had already stood up four back- to-back task forces—the last one under unprecedented circum- stances. This is a story of thousands of partners, operating around the clock in every time zone in dozens of locations, with information moving at light speed. U.S.DEPARTMENTOFSTATE The Repatriation Task Force created this infographic for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s presentation at the April 8 White House Coronavirus press briefing. As it shows, between Jan. 29 and April 8 the task force brought more than 50,000 Americans home from more than 90 countries around the world in an unprecedented effort that involved more than 480 flights.