Another Government Boondoggle or Worthwhile Investment?

Helle Dale / January 14, 2010

With all the money that has been shelled out through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Act, it turns out that the State department has its hand out, too. The State Department is requesting funding for a Foreign Affairs Security Training Center — to provide U.S. diplomats, or at least those charged with protecting them, with a greater set of survival skills. Just this New year’s Eve, the killings of seven CIA employees at the CIA’s base in Khost Province, Afghanistan, near Pakistan, was a deadly reminder of the risks involved to civilians in the field. Nor is it a new phenomenon that diplomacy can be a dangerous business. Since and including the Iran hostage taking in 1979, 66 U.S. diplomats overseas have paid for their service to their country with their lives in violent incidents.

Given this reality, a centralized training facility may not be such a bad idea. It would enable embassies to provide their own security personnel, and it might even convince embassy staff to venture out of their current fortress like structures more than they do now. Whether a new training center is considered a deplorable sign of the times or a much needed reality adjustment, it is clear that protection is critically important in some outposts. Diplomats better able to protect themselves may in the end feel less hesitant about engaging the local population. And the fact is that some of this training is already being done, piecemeal at other facilities. (more…)