The Foreign Service Journal, December 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2016 51 achieve this feat cannot be explained here, our CEO/T hero- ically made the impossible possible. As U.S. media later reported: “Sununu was in touch with the White House at all times, and could have gotten through to the president on his cigarette boat off the Maine coast from anywhere inside the Kremlin.” Not reported was the magic of CEO/T Charlie Hall, who made it possible. Tension, Smoke and Fear It was now approximately 10:25 on that March morning in 1991. As the fire raged below, everyone had evacuated the building except for me and one other communicator, Donna Chick-Bowers. Donna and I needed to ensure that the CPU was secure, that Washington was notified, and that combinations and emergency crypto keys were gathered before we could evacuate. Once finished, we opened the electronic doors to my outside office and were immediately engulfed in billowing smoke, unable to see, barely able to breathe. What had been tension now changed to outright fear. I thought back to the recent death of a communications col- league, on temporary duty (TDY) from Embassy Helsinki to Leningrad, who perished because of heavy smoke caused by fire. In that tragedy, smoke overcame Support Communications Officer Pasqual Martinez in his hotel room. Pasqual’s remains were only identified via dental records. He had volunteered for the TDY to Leningrad at my request. Donna and I struggled to find the exit. In the hallway we were blinded by smoke. Clinging to the metal railing along the stairwell, coughing, trying to take in only tiny gasps of smoky air, we descended several flights to what was supposed to be an emergency exit. But when I pushed the exit open, a towering burst of flames roared at us from the source of the fire itself. We had no choice but to climb back up two flights of stairs to the front entrance of the embassy, now our only escape route. We were the last two employees to evacuate, but we had survived. Final Communications, Silent Glory The USSR’s deadline with history was fast approaching, but my staff was about to experience what would be perhaps our finest hour in Moscow. Even as three suspected KGB “firemen” were spotted by our security personnel leaving the building, evading an RSO checkpoint and departing via a strategically positioned taxi around the corner, the CPU and our systems team were already hard at work, restoring vital command-and- control circuitry to an alternate embassy site and installing unclassified workstations in the cafeteria. Courageously, members of my team reentered the burning embassy, more than once, to retrieve essential components without which Embassy Moscow would have lost contact with the outside world (this was before internet, email and social media). CEOs Bart and Hall combined cryptographic and telephony skills to restore secure-voice capability, enabling the ambassador to contact Washington. In what was arguably the most important post in the world, only hours after a major fire, America’s eyes and ears were once again functioning. It was a proud moment to be in the Foreign Service and a member of the DTS. This was, after all, America’s first line of defense: U.S. Embassy Moscow. Despite the challenges we faced inside a rapidly crumbling USSR, Washington expected a world-class performance. Our achievements inside a Soviet Union that no longer exists won us a Superior Honor Award nomination, but not the prize itself. Diplomatic Security would not authorize the award, citing “security reasons.” The words of George F. Kennan, former ambassador to the USSR, were relevant to my Moscow staff on that day in 1991: “It takes a special love of country to pursue, with love, faith and cheerfulness, work for which no parades will ever march, no crowds will ever cheer and no bands will ever play.” I dedicate this article to all former, present and future Embassy Moscow employees, with a special salute to all information resource management specialists. n Members of my team reentered the burning embassy, more than once, to retrieve essential components without which Embassy Moscow would have lost contact with the outside world (this was before internet, email and social media).