Panel Urges U.S. to Correct Security Flaws at Embassies

Outlining its security concerns, an official review board warned Friday that at least two-thirds of the 262 U.S. embassies and consulates around the world are such tempting terrorist targets that they should be relocated or rebuilt--at a staggering cost of $15 billion over the next decade.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright agreed that U.S. diplomatic missions need far better protection, but she warned against diverting so much money to embassy security that other vital programs would be shortchanged.

“We must not hollow out our foreign policy,” Albright said Friday. “We need to protect our diplomats, but we also need the resources required to protect American interests.”

The details of the Accountability Review Board’s report on the deadly terrorist bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August were released a day after a summary of the findings became public.

The commission suggested closing some diplomatic missions and reducing the staff at others to eliminate the most dangerous posts and to save funds to improve others.

The improvements recommended would cost $1.5 billion yearly, compared to the State Department’s $1.6-billion operations budget for the current fiscal year.

The commission’s chairman, retired Adm. William Crowe, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged Congress to appropriate the money needed for embassy reconstruction in addition to funds provided for other State Department programs.

But an appropriation of that magnitude would surely be controversial on Capitol Hill.

Although many congressional leaders called for increased security in the wake of the bombings, none of the lawmakers suggested spending anywhere near $15 billion.

By law, Crowe’s report goes to the State Department, which has three months to consider the recommendations and make its own report to Congress.

In 1985, two years after suicide bombers destroyed embassies in Beirut and Kuwait City, a commission headed by retired Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, former director of the National Security Agency, established comprehensive standards for embassy security.

Among other things, the guidelines said all diplomatic missions should be set back at least 100 feet from the nearest road to prevent car bombers from getting close enough to inflict deadly damage.

At the time the Inman commission report was issued, the State Department estimated that about half of all embassies and consulates would have to be rebuilt or substantially remodeled at a five-year cost of $3.5 billion.

On Friday, Crowe emphasized how much remains to be done.

“About two-thirds of our embassies have not met Inman standards and still require some kind of improvement to reach a minimum level,” he said.

The State Department’s chief of diplomatic security, David Carpenter, was even gloomier. He said 88% of all embassies lack the 100-foot security buffer recommended by the Inman report.

Critics, including some diplomats, have warned that the security precautions prevent U.S. diplomats from coming into contact with the citizens of the countries where they are posted.

Crowe shrugged off the criticism, saying the threat of terrorism has already closed off embassies even in friendly countries.

Congress appropriated only about $2.5 billion of the $3.5 billion recommended by the Inman panel. For that money, about 20 embassies in the Middle East and other high-risk areas were turned into state-of-the-art anti-terrorist fortresses. Embassies in areas where the terrorist threat was thought to be relatively low, however, were not scheduled for early remodeling. Virtually all posts in Africa were low on the priority list.

Last August’s bombing attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam shattered that illusion of safety. The blasts killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

“We cannot assume that any post is safe,” Albright said.

But she warned that there are no easy fixes.

“I want to make clear, no matter how careful we are, or how much we spend, we cannot guarantee that there will be no more attacks and no more innocent victims,” she said.

“The embassy bombings provide stark evidence that the work this department does is not only important but also dangerous,” Albright added. “America is a leading voice everywhere for freedom and tolerance, justice and law. As a result, we are befriended by many and respected by most, but we are also misunderstood by some and viciously opposed by a few. And with today’s technology, small numbers [of terrorists] can generate deadly consequences.”