The Foreign Service Journal, December 2007

while the military and Justice Department sought to investigate the strike. The response, at least in some quarters, was to paint Bodine as a bureaucratic interloper, who impeded the investigation. Some have even alleged that because of her resistance to investigators, she played a role in the intelligence failure leading up to the 9/11 attacks. Bodine, of course, sees it differently. The Cole investiga- tion, in her view, marked a shift in the balance of power between ambassadors and the military and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. With their aggressive, take-no-prisoners attitude, the latter two groups began to run rampant over State’s diplomatic approach. Culture Clashes Gillespie traces the phenomenon, at least in the case of law enforcement officials, not so much to the political turf wars of the Bush years as to agency culture clashes that have emanated naturally from former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s move to expand the investigative agency’s overseas presence. “They are a very tight-knit culture,” he says of the FBI, and the relative openness at overseas missions is “alien to them.” In response to challenges in the past, Bodine says, “We always had as our trump card the chief-of-mission letter. At the end of the day, you knew and they knew that letter meant something, that Washington would back you if push came to shove. But now, in the wake of Rumsfeld’s tenure at Defense and the attitude of the White House, the letter doesn’t have the same kick to it. Without that, you’re hosed. In the past, with both Republicans and Democrats, there was a very strong sense that ‘this is my person in-country.’ If the president and vice president aren’t conveying that, it makes it that much harder. If there were deep philosophical problems, or an agency representative that was not playing with the country team, you could refer it back to Washington, and it would be resolved. Now I get the sense that in its most extreme form, they look at you and laugh. They say, ‘I don’t report to you; my boss doesn’t report to you.’” F O C U S 26 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 7 SERVING THOSE WHO SERVE AMERICA S I NCE 1 9 7 1 2007 represents our 37 th year helping to maintain America’s fleet of vehicles throughout the world. All of us at D & M consider it an honor to have worked with all of you through these years. We are aware of the importance of your official and private vehicles, forklifts, generators, tools and equipment. We look forward to continuing this service in a professional manner. We are here to help, just ask! Gary Vlahov www.dmauto.com (516) 822-6662; FAX: (516) 822-5020; E-mail: info@dmauto.com