The Foreign Service Journal, December 2020

104 DECEMBER 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Dolores Brown, who is AFSA’s retirement benefits counselor, also role-plays as a deputy chief of mission for Diplomatic Security’s Foreign Affairs Counter Threat (FACT) training. Maria R. Silver is a reem- ployed annuitant consular officer. I magine walking the long tunnel to the tricked-out bunker of Albania’s former president, Enver Hoxha, who led—and isolated—his country from 1941 until his death in 1985. We contemplated all the human effort expended to satisfy Hoxha’s paranoia as he held his country in fear. It was unforgettable. The “we” here are two retired Foreign Service officers who, true to our roots, remain intrepid. Together, we have more than 50 years of experience with the State Department. We bonded in the mid- 1990s while working together on Belarus, another cloistered European dictatorship. Dolores was the analyst for Belarus in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, while Maria was the desk officer. Analyzing declarations by the wily Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukash- enko, a former collective farm boss, we delighted in each other’s skepticism and wicked sense of humor. It helped that we were both alumnae of the same college (though we just missed each other at Bar- nard back in the 1970s) and aficionados of Eastern European history. Twenty-plus years later, we reunited at Foreign Affairs Day 2019. Reminiscing, we wryly noted that the Belarusian dictator, still in power, had outlasted us on the job. It turned out that Maria, who has done nearly a dozen reemployed annuitant assignments since her 2011 retirement, was headed to Albania. Dolores’ eyes widened. Long closed to tourists—much less U.S. diplomats—the country had transfixed her for years. She jumped at the opportunity to ask Maria if she’d like some company. REFLECTIONS An Unexpected Foray into Albania BY DOLORES BROWN AND MAR I A S I LVER Soon we found our- selves on an unexpected foray into what was Europe’s fiercest commu- nist state … and poised at the entrance to that long cold tunnel. Signs warned that it’s not for the claus- trophobic. We ventured through several sets of reinforced concrete doors two feet thick and explored tour highlights such as “decon- tamination” showers and weird audio recordings of Hoxha’s harangues and throngs singing the national anthem, replete with the line “with pickax and rifle.” Hoxha’s five-story hideout, fitted with secret corridors and escape routes, was supposed to protect the ruler from nuclear, biological or chemical attack (which never came). In Albania, the people had bunkers, too. Both urban and rural landscapes are dotted with what look like giant beached sea turtles, testa- ments to Hoxha’s delusion that Albania would be punished for being Europe’s purest communist state. He didn’t allow his population out or foreigners in. Adding to the absurdity, these bunkers wouldn’t have protected anyone from anything, except perhaps a stray tornado. Many are now used by Albanian teenagers for partying. We shook our heads and agreed that we need to give the Albanian people credit for being uniquely long-suffering in a world that offers extensive competition. Maria Silver, at right, and Dolores Brown toast their renewed friendship at the Mullixhiu Restaurant. A pillbox bunker in downtown Tirana. COURTESYOFDOLORESBROWN COURTESYOFDOLORESBROWN