October 2001
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE October 2001 StateStateMagazine TerrorTerror HitsHits HomeHome StateState Magazine October 2001 Contents No. 450 Department of State • United States of America 4 Terror Strikes 8 COLUMNS Terrorists shatter Americans’ sense of security at home. 8 Office of the Month: Antiterrorism Assistance 2 From the Secretary Nations use U.S. ties to keep terrorists at bay. 13 Direct from the D.G. 14 Post of the Month: Dhaka The challenges are many on the Bay of Bengal. DEPARTMENTS 19 Retirees in the Southwest 3 Letters to the Editor The accent’s on culture and camaraderie. 20 National Security Adviser Inspires Interns 4 In the News Condoleezza Rice offers career guidance. 28 Safety Scene 21 Transition Center 29 People Like You FSI resource facility observes first anniversary. 22 Diplomats and Soldiers 30 Education & Training They bond in open-air classroom. 32 Appointments 24 Pitching the Foreign Service 34 Personnel Actions Diplomats-in-Residence get marching orders. 36 Obituaries Photo by Paul Koscak Photo by 26 Leadership Training Foreign police officers learn Program gets high marks from students and supervisors. antiterrorist tactics. German citizens express their grief at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. 4 On the Cover The Capitol stands strong above the Pentagon’s devastation. ©Jim Lo Scalzo/Folio Inc. Jockel Finck/AP Photos Finck/AP Jockel FROM THE SECRETARY SECRETARY COLIN L. POWELL We Will Not Be Deterred t this traumatic time for all Americans, we turn to our loved ones and our extended State Department family and embassy communities. For our col- Aleagues at overseas posts, this is an especially hard time to be far from home. In dark hours such as these, we can derive great strength and comfort from the knowledge that America has such steadfast and caring allies and friends. From all over the world, countries large and small, rich and poor, offers of sympathy, support and assistance are pouring in. As President Bush said, the planners and perpetrators of the attacks on New York City and the Pentagon committed acts of war against America and all that we stand for—freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law, free trade and international peace. Values that are shared and cherished by men and women all around the globe, and for which every man and woman serving in our embassies and consulates over- seas—Americans and Foreign Service Nationals alike—works every single day to defend and advance. We will not be deterred from our mission. America will stay engaged, move for- ward and prevail. Living under the constant threat of terrorism is not new to the men and women of our diplomatic missions abroad. You are used to living and working under difficult and often dangerous conditions. I expect all of you to take the utmost precaution and to take care of one another, to stay vigilant and stay safe. At the same time, I expect you to find ways to carry on with your vital work for our country. In the coming days, weeks and months, the State Department will be called upon to help forge a worldwide coalition to combat the evil of terrorism. A coalition that will not only work to hunt down and hold to account those responsible for the recent attacks, but to mount a comprehensive, systematic and sustained campaign to break the back of international terrorism — its leaders, its actors, its abettors, its networks. The men and women of American diplomacy will be at the forefront of this unprecedented effort. Each and every one of you can contribute. By securing the cooperation of other governments. By focusing the work of international institutions. And by reaching out to foreign publics. The President and I and the American people are counting on each of you to do your duty, and we are confident that, in the finest tradition of service to our nation, you will rise to the challenge. May God bless you and your families, and may God bless America. I 2 State Magazine Photo Leaves Wrong Impression LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Political officer Derrick Olsen, back row, left, OMS Cheryl Busch, FSN Liliana Benguria with Bolivian counternarcotics officers beside a cocaine destruction pit in the Chapare. Your Post of the Month I sadly learned in April 1999 of the feature on La Paz in the death of one of my first mentors, Jean July–August issue con- Johannesen, a great peddler for the tains a photo of a Foreign Service, and that of a former Bolivia still remains off the beaten track for most Americans. Movie buffs remem- ber it as the land where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had their last shoot-out. colleague, William G. Smallwood, in Historians know it for the richest silver young boy chiseling mine the world has ever seen. The mine and city of Potosí (at a mere 15,000 ft. above sea level) underwrote, for several centuries, the expansion of the Spanish Empire. Naturalists and geographers value the country’s amazing topographi- June 2000. cal variety. From eternal snow-capped An- away at rocks in dean peaks, the country plunges down to the Amazon basin. The various ecosys- tems support an incredible range of flora The annual Bookfair at the Truman and fauna. Llamas and condors dominate the upper reaches of the country, while leopards, parrots and monkeys hold sway at lower altitudes. Bolivia’s Potosi sil- I look forward to reading up on The country is considered the poorest in Building, sponsored by the Associates South America and has the highest per- centage of indigenous peoples. It is esti- mated that the Aymara, Quechua and the 2001 issues. Guayani Indians compose more than 60 percent of the population. Their tradition- al arts, crafts, cuisine, traditional dances of the American Foreign Service and ceremonies make Bolivia fascinating ver mine, consid- and unique. A young boy chisels away at rocks in the Potosí silver mine to help support his family. 10 State Magazine ered one of the Great job. Worldwide, takes place daily from Lori Rademann Oct.12 -21, not just Oct. 13-14 and 20- miningmention is one is Richestmadeof the world’sof mosttheor fact not,richest. haz- that no Camp Lejeune, N.C. 21, as reported in our September issue. ardous industries in the world, par- Weekday hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. ticularly for children. The U.S. gov- Corrections Opening day hours are 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. ernment has ratified international conventions against the worst William J. Burns is the new assis- forms of child labor, including min- tant secretary for Near Eastern ing. Indeed, more than 100 coun- Affairs, not the U.S. Ambassador to We Invite You to Write tries, including Bolivia, have out- Jordan. Sue McCourt-Cobb is the new lawed child labor in mining U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, not the We invite you to express your feelings about the events of Sept. specifically because it is so danger- Bahamas. Charles E. Williams is 11. We will publish your observa- ous. The U.S. Department of Labor, director/chief buildings officer, tions in an expanded Letters to the in fact, is implementing a program Overseas Buildings Operations, not Editor section in upcoming issues. at Potosi, as well as in Peru and deputy assistant secretary. Melissa Ecuador, to prevent and eliminate Clegg-Tripp, not Dona Dailey, wrote To accommodate as many con- tributors as possible, please limit child labor in mining. the Post of the Month article on La your letters to approximately Paz in our July–August issue. Unfortunately, pointing out the 250 words. All published letters wealth extracted from the mine, cou- will identify the author, so please pled with the photograph of a child include your bureau, job title laboring away in miserable condi- and location. tions, may leave readers with the impression that the U.S. government Only signed letters will be con- sidered for publication. has no position on or even accepts this heinous practice. As we go to press, what had always seemed to happen overseas has happened here at home.From The terror the that struck Editor stateside Sept. 11 in New Edmund McWilliams York, Pennsylvania and Virginia will be with us for months and years to Director come, just as the fateful bombings of our embassies in East Africa on Aug. Office of International Labor Affairs 7, 1998. Our coverage begins on page 4. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights Through the Department’s antiterrorism assistance program, 52 and Labor nations are working to improve their police and other internal security forces. Since the program began in 1983, some 117 countries have sent Enjoying Your Online 23,000 participants to the professional law enforcement training. To fur- Edition ther bolster the program, the Department recently opened a new training center in Albuquerque, N.M. For more details, check out our Office of the I left the State Department way back Month on page 14. in 1977, and I have been thoroughly For three decades, the United States has sought to further Bangladesh’s enjoying reading economic development and strengthen its democratic institutions. Since Internet (www.state.gov/m/dghr/ the country’s independence in 1971, the United States has provided more statemag). State Magazine than $4.3 billion in bilateral assistance, nearly half of it for food. Americans stationed at “the fort,” as the embassy in Dhaka is known, are on the working hard on several fronts—from economic growth to food securi- ty—so that this densely populated nation of some 130 million people can achieve its goals.