The Foreign Service Journal, December 2012

24 DECEMBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL State Department officials and Foreign Service professionals, architects, historians, journalists and security experts, and even a future president. Chairman of the House National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee John Tierney, D-Mass., held hear- ings on “Effective Diplomacy and the Future of U.S. Embassies” in 2008. “Some of us call them fortress embassies,” Tierney said, making his point of view clear as he introduced the proceedings. Witnesses includedThomas Pickering and Marc Gross- man, both former U.S. ambassadors who had served as under secretary of State for political affairs. The two cited the chang- ing role of diplomacy, the negative impact of isolation and the added value of architecture that is site-specific and appropri- ately “symbolic.” In assessing security, Grossman—co-author of an influential report titled “The Embassy of the Future,” which the Center for Strategic and International Studies published in 2007—underscored the “need to shift from a culture of risk avoidance to risk management.” Patrick Donovan, deputy assistant secretary for countermea- sures at the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, reiterated that theme when he declared in 2009 that embassies “are not risk-free buildings.” Donovan explained the futility of trying to construct an embassy as a risk-free facility. He also criticized the OBO’s almost total commitment to design-build, which stifles inno- vation, he noted, by eliminating the competitive bidding that encourages new ideas. He cited anti-ram barriers and blast-resistant cladding systems as components that could be more attrac- tive and provide added security if better designed. Architects hated the SED for the same reasons that they hated big-box stores. They were slow to take up the challenge of the security mandate (both here and abroad) and position themselves as professionals who could offer leadership and expertise in solving new and vexing design problems associated with security. And, of course, they lamented the loss of high-profile embassy commissions, once such “plums.” OBO did hire architects to design new embassies in Berlin and Beijing, but both were design- bid-build jobs, and both were exceptions. What about London? Would that be an exception or another SED? Criticism of the “fortress” model culminated when congres- sional critics joined diplomats and designers in condemning the mega-embassy compound in Baghdad for cost overruns, lateness, construction flaws and size. Even presidential candi- date Barack Obama, campaigning in 2008, faulted the Baghdad project. To him, it signaled that the United States intended to be “a permanent occupier” and sent a mixed message about Ameri- can intentions. The Baghdad fiasco led to the exit of Williams from OBO late in 2007. OBO Shifts Direction Williams was succeeded first by Richard Shinnick and then by Adam Namm, both career Foreign Service officers. Both quickly introduced a new openness at OBO and reached out to critics for input. The bureau also proclaimed its new direction in 2008 by announcing a competition to select an architect for a new Lon- don embassy to replace the Grosvenor Square chancery, which is functionally obsolete. The competition guidelines and the selection of KieranTimberlake’s dramatic winning design in 2010 revealed a new focus on innovation and civic engagement. The American Institute of Architects responded to OBO’s outreach by forming a multidisciplinary task force to assess the 21st-century embassy. Its 2009 report recommended an initia- tive comparable to the Design Excellence program that the Gen- eral Services Administration had launched in 1994 to improve the quality and civic value of domestic federal buildings. Lydia Muniz joined OBO in 2009 and took on the task of crafting a Embassy Bamako, above, is a Standard Embassy Design facility built in 2006. The SED model, below, came in Small, Medium and Large and was meant to be completely standardized, with each embassy built to the same specifications. PhotoscourtesyofBureauofOverseasBuildingsOperations,U.S.DepartmentofState