Saturday, March 27, 2010

Dipomatic Security: 2009 Year in Review

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security's 2009 Year in Review is now available (here), and it is worth a look.

One small item in the report really stood out to me, personally, since it is a good example of something that I think should be done routinely. It was about physical security enhancements abroad, and how DS specialists worked with a local architect in Rome to meet security requirements for our historic chancery there in an architecturally sensitive way. The result is a compound access control booth that is in full compliance with the purportedly onerous 'Fortress Embassy' security standards, yet is so visually discrete that it is practically invisible from outside the embassy's perimeter fence. See a photo of that stealthy structure on pages 14 and 15 of the report.

I'm happy to learn that someone in DS is concerned about protecting our culturally significant properties, as well as our people. That guy ought to get a bonus.

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