The Foreign Service Journal, December 2022

46 DECEMBER 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL agencies, contractors, and LE staff. When her co-CLO departed on OD in April, her hours only increased. On Aug. 14, the Emergency Action Committee decided to evacuate all diplomatic staff; except for a team at the airport, all U.S. direct hires left Afghanistan on Aug. 15. As the only Kabul employee on the ground at the State Depart- ment inWashington, D.C., when the evacuation began, Ms. Peterson took up the role of local staff communications lead on the Afghanistan Coordination Task Force Logistics Team. Work- ing Kabul hours fromher hotel room, she brought her in-depth knowledge of the mission to bear while alsomanifesting local staff for flights out of the city. Ms. Peterson’s impact was perhaps most felt by Afghan staff, with whom she shared a deep bond. Throughout the evacua- tion, and as they faced harrowing days hiding in their homes or waiting at the mobbed airport, Ms. Peterson kept in contact with them. She regularly updated the regional security officer and DoD, including status reports when a busload of LE staff attempting to pass through a checkpoint to the airport was held at gunpoint by Talibanmembers. Her real-time information flow to the proper contacts at the airport headquarters helped gain the passengers’ release and eventual travel to the U.S. Working nonstop during what were often 20-hour days, she responded to hundreds of sensitive emails, WhatsApp messages, and texts with local staff, sharing vital information with security contacts. She recalls, “Time was limited and we were all afraid to sleep for fear of missing messages and not being available to our staff when they needed us. Continuing to facilitate communication and control rumors was vital to helping the community remain calm.” Critically, her networks provided updates and key information during the Aug. 26 suicide attack at the airport, ensuring mission personnel accountability and LE staff safety. She also maintained her position as CLO coordinator—link- ing management, Afghan staff, and those on ordered departure, as well as advocating for and helping to organize GCLO-hosted town halls. She supported embassy staff working feverishly in both Doha and Kabul, sending essential supplies to the RSO team members in Kabul who had been forced to abandon their bags on the embassy helipad. As evacuated staff arrived inWashington, D.C., Ms. Peterson used her evenings and even the early hours of the morning to coordinate and volunteer at welcome tables at Dulles International Airport, distributing information, SIM cards, andmuch-needed encouragement for exhausted travelers. Continuing to serve with domestic support for arriving Afghan colleagues, Ms. Peterson traveled to Dulles Expo Center and Fort Lee in Virginia, Fort Dix in New Jersey, Fort Bliss in Texas, and Holloman Air Force Base in NewMexico with information, sup- plies, and a caring ear for Mission Afghanistan’s evacuated LE staff awaiting processing. She never stopped advocating for the Afghan community, including for prenatal care for pregnant women in the evacuee camps. Ms. Peterson’s dedication helped ease a fraught evacuation process and entry to the United States. Working across time zones and on a variety of issues, withminimal guidance as her own leadership evacuated, she excelled in providing care to the entire community, everywhere. Her extraordinary level of service in chal- lenging times directly affected thousands of lives. In reflecting on this award, Ms. Peterson says she is honored to have been selected: “I know that many CLOs around the world performed extraordinary service this past year. I can only say thank you to AFSA for providing the opportunity for CLOs to show the dedication and love we feel for our embassy and mis- sion communities.” Hailing fromArizona, Christie Peterson is currently based in Canberra, Australia, where she serves as co-CLO coordinator. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history fromNorthern Arizona Uni- versity, where she met andmarried her husband, now a Foreign Service officer. The couple and their two daughters have previously been posted to Dakar, Prague, andWashington, D.C. Between the State Department and service with the U.S. Air Force, they have moved 24 times in the past 25 years. Christine Peterson holds the son of an Afghan LE staff member at an evacuation camp in Fort Lee, Virginia, in September 2021.