Ex-Diplomats Object to Escort Policy

To boost security, the State Department is requiring retired diplomats to have an escort when they return to visit old colleagues--and many are outraged.

The directive covers nearly 11,000 retired Foreign Service officers who, because of their past standing as career diplomats, traditionally have had unfettered access to the State Department simply by showing an identity badge affirming their past service.

It is “insulting and disappointing,” Gilbert Johnson, a career diplomat for 36 years, said of the policy change, which took effect Sept. 1.

Michael Smith, 64, the first U.S. ambassador to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades, called the new policy “insane” and said that for devoted public servants to be considered security risks “is beyond the pale.”

“Can you imagine Larry Eagleburger having to be escorted?” asked Robert Fritts, 66, a two-time ambassador to Africa. Eagleburger is a former career diplomat who served as secretary of State under President Bush in 1992-93.

Many former diplomats return to the department periodically so they can keep current on policy issues or visit old colleagues. Fritts frequently speaks to public policy groups on such issues out of a sense of duty. But he says his motivation to continue doing so “is being sorely tested” because of the new escort policy.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright ordered tighter security against spies and terrorists after a number of embarrassing security breaches, including the disappearance of a laptop computer with highly classified information from a State Department office last winter.

Last fall, a Russian spy was discovered outside the building listening to a bugging device planted in a seventh floor conference room.

These episodes attracted the attention of Congress. They suggested that “a casual attitude toward security is part of the department’s culture,” said House International Relations Committee Chairman Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.).

Albright’s top aide for diplomatic security, David Carpenter, announced the mandatory escort policy in an Aug. 15 letter to the retirees.

He noted that escorts were required for non-U.S. government personnel and wrote: “To be effective, our access-control policy must be comprehensive and uniformly enforced. To that end, effective Sept. 1, 2000, retirees must sign in and be escorted during visits to the Department of State and its annexes.”

Marshall Adair, president of the American Foreign Service Assn., objected vigorously to the new policy in a Sept. 6 letter to Albright.

“Intended or not, these restrictions are seen as an enormous insult and an inexplicable lack of trust in those who were once entrusted the U.S. lives, property and state secrets,” Adair wrote.

He said the cleaning force and the construction contractors walk about unescorted in the building. Others opposed to the policy noted that building passes have been issued to more than 500 journalists, including several dozen foreigners. But their access is limited to the first two floors of the eight-story building.

The Defense Department has no access restrictions for former employees, but the CIA does.

A State Department official, speaking privately, said one concern has been that retirees at times work for lobbying groups or foreign governments that may be hostile to U.S. interests. However, the department does not keep lists of retirees in this category, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Adair said he was told that department officials are concerned that disgruntled former employees cannot automatically be counted on to behave properly when visiting the department.

Irwin Rubenstein, president of an association of 850 retired diplomats in Florida, called the access restrictions “a shocker.”

“We sought the career and loved our country. . . . As far as I know, there have been no incidents involving retirees. We’re calling for rescinding the order or at least drastically modifying it,” he said.

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