UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE BUREAU OF DIPLOMATIC SECURITY DIPLOMATIC SECURITY SERVICE THEN&NOW DSS History at a Glance 1775 1830 1866 With diplomatic security present The State Department hires The State Department begins at the creation of the United its first “dispatch agent” in sending message cables, States, the Continental Congress New York to place confidential some in code, via the Trans- establishes a Committee of Secret messages and pouches with Atlantic telegraph. Correspondence to safeguard ship captains sailing overseas. international communication. The committee evolves into today’s U.S. Department of State. 1915 1916 1917 President Woodrow Wilson Secretary of State Robert Lansing Former Secret Service Agent details U.S. Secret Service agents creates the first security office, Joseph “Bill” Nye becomes to the State Department to the Secret Intelligence Bureau, the Department’s first Chief investigate passport fraud and overseen by a diplomat and Special Agent. Duties include espionage cases that threaten staffed by investigators detailed escorting foreign dignitaries and U.S. neutrality in World War I. from the U.S. Secret Service and investigating passport and visa U.S. Post Office Department. fraud. With the U.S. entry into World War I, Marines and soldiers act as diplomatic couriers. 1918 1920 1941 - 1945 Civilians replace military couriers Robert C. Bannerman begins a World War II revolutionizes on diplomatic courier routes 20-year term as Chief Special diplomatic security as the United following the 1918 Armistice. Agent. Amid ongoing budget States assumes a global role. challenges, Bannerman sets up numerous longstanding diplomatic security processes, especially passport investigations and, in the 1930s, counter-espionage. 1946 1947 1948 With the rise in air transport, The escalating Cold War increases The Department creates the the Diplomatic Courier Service background investigations for Division of Security, soon expanded replaces the century-old State Department employees. to the Office of Security. The dispatch agent system as the Security officers are assigned office symbol SY is used for the primary means of delivering to U.S. embassies. next four decades. The Marine diplomatic correspondence. Security Guard Program is created. 1952 1965 1983 After a yearlong search, security The State Department’s U.S. Following the bombings of the officers uncover a listening “bug” Navy Seabee program begins, U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine inside the Great Seal of the United helping to detect surveillance headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, States in the U.S. ambassador’s devices inside embassies and the State Department convenes a residence in Moscow, leading to taking part in sensitive overseas diplomatic security review panel a heightened Cold War counter- construction projects. led by retired U.S. Navy Admiral espionage posture for SY and a Bobby Inman. The Antiterrorism six-fold increase in the number of Assistance program is launched technical security officers. Over to train foreign civilian security the next decade SY uncovers more and law-enforcement personnel. than 100 listening devices in U.S. Embassies behind the Iron Curtain. 1985 1986 1998 Based on the Inman Panel’s President Ronald Reagan signs the Following U.S. Embassy bombings in recommendations, Congress and Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, U.S. Secretary of State George Antiterrorism Act of 1986, providing Tanzania, DSS staffing is increased P. Shultz authorize resources to DS with a formal structure. by 25 percent, Congress approves create the Bureau of Diplomatic $1.4 billion to build more secure Security (DS) and the Diplomatic embassies, and Regional Security Security Service (DSS). Officers are granted more authority and responsibility, reporting directly to Chiefs of Mission. 2001 2003 2012 - 2015 Expeditionary diplomacy after the The DS Rewards for Justice Recommendations by the 9/11 al-Qa'ida attacks requires DS Program pays out the program’s Accountability Review Board for to protect American diplomacy largest reward at the time for Benghazi, convened after the attack in increasingly challenging information that led to the on U.S. compounds in Libya, lead to environments. Since 2002, location of Saddam Hussein’s the creation of the DSS High-Threat more than 90 U.S. and foreign sons, Uday and Qusay. Programs Directorate— as well security and law enforcement as recruiting more special agents, professionals have lost their lives adding 1,000 Marine Security protecting U.S. diplomats. Guards, and strengthening an ever-closer security partnership with the U.S. military. DIPLOMATIC SECURITY SERVICE THEN&NOW Chiefs of Security 1917-Present office of the chief special agent security office division of security Joseph M. Nye Robert C. Thomas F. Fitch Robert L. Donald L. John W. Ford 1917 – 1920 Bannerman 1940 – 1947 Bannerman Nicholson 1952 1920 – 1940 1945 – 1947 1948 – 1952 office of security (sy) John W. Ford Dennis A. Flinn E. Tomlin Bailey William O. John F. Reilly G. Marvin Gentile Victor H. Dikeos 1952 – 1953 1953 – 1956 1956 – 1958 Boswell 1962 – 1963 1964 – 1974 1974 – 1978 1958 – 1962 Karl D. Ackerman Marvin L. David C. Fields 1978 – 1982 Garrett, Jr. 1984 – 1985 1982 – 1983 bureau of diplomatic security (ds) assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security Robert E. Lamb Sheldon J. Krys Anthony C. E. Eric J. Boswell David G. Francis X. Taylor Richard J. Griffin 1985 – 1989 1989 – 1992 Quainton 1996 – 1998 Carpenter 2002 – 2005 2005 – 2007 1992 – 1995 1998 – 2002 Gregory B. Eric J. Boswell Gregory B. Starr Starr (Acting) 2008 – 2012 2013 – 2007 – 2008 diplomatic security service (dss) director, diplomatic security service, deputy assistant secretary of state David C. Fields Louis E. Clark M. Dittmer Mark E. Mulvey Gregorie Bujac Peter E. Bergin Joe D. Morton 1985 – 1986 Schwartz, Jr. 1988 – 1993 1993 – 1996 1996 – 1998 1998 – 2003 2003 – 2007 1986 – 1988 Gregory B. Starr Patrick Donovan Jeffrey W. Culver Scott Bultrowicz Gregory B. Starr Bill A. Miller 2007 – 2009 2009 2009 – 2011 2011 – 2012 2013 2014 – THEN: Special agent badges from 1917 to the 1980s. The origins of the Diplomatic Security Service began in 1916 with the creation of a small wartime office called the Secret Intelligence Bureau within the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Counselor, that acted as an information clearinghouse and oversaw a handful of special agents detailed from other federal agencies. Early in 1917, the department hired its first Chief Special Agent. Over the decades, State Department special agents have carried a variety of federal law enforcement badges pictured above. (U.S. Department of State photos) NOW: Today’s special agent, diplomatic courier, and security engineer badges. Following decades of evolution, the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) was formally established in 1985. The Diplomatic Courier Service also joined DSS in 1985. Later in the 1980s, the security engineering officers were consolidated within DSS from the Regional Bureaus to better address developing security needs. (U.S. Department of State photos) 02 20 64 Introduction World War II 1984 to 1999 A Tradition of Vigilance Supporting Allied Victory Creating the Diplomatic Security Service: SY Transforms to DSS 04 28 78 From American 1945 to 1963 2000s and Independence Postwar and Cold War Years: Beyond to the 1900s Creating the Office of Security (SY) Frontlines of Diplomacy 08 46 84 World War I 1964 to 1983 The Next 100 Diplomatic Security and Special Agents From Vietnam to the Rise Years of Global Terrorism 14 1920s and 1930s The Bannerman Years: Consolidation and Growing Threats Introduction A Tradition of Vigilance The U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, international threats. This led the State Department to establish often known by its initials DSS or DS, traces its origins to 1916 for the first time a cohesive group of permanently assigned and was formally established in its current form in 1985 to professionals to focus specifically on diplomatic security. address growing security concerns as terrorists and militants increasingly targeted American diplomats at home and abroad. Ever since, Diplomatic Security specialists have continuously adapted to meet evolving risks. Today, DS supports all aspects Although the first organizational structures of DSS were put of diplomacy. DS professionals can be found around the globe, in place in the World War I era, privacy and security were at American embassies, consulates, diplomatic meetings, even integral to American diplomacy even from before the founding at international sporting events, as well as behind the scenes of the nation. However, the State Department of past eras was in international investigations or partnering with federal law a comparatively tiny organization, and often the diplomats enforcement or foreign security professionals. DSS agents, themselves were conducting rudimentary security as part of engineers, couriers, technical specialists, and others are on their wide-ranging duties. By 1916, the United States found duty around the clock across 24 time zones to provide a safe itself emerging as a world power while grappling with complex and secure environment for the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. Gregory B. Starr Bill A. Miller Assistant Secretary of State Director, for Diplomatic Security Diplomatic Security Service 02 BEGINNINGS… Diplomacy is as old as civilization and always has relied on security. For thousands of years, heralds and trusted