Category Archives: Trends

May 11, 2013 · 12:27 pm

US Embassy Egypt: From the Real Post Reports – the New Cairo; Plus Western Embassy Targeted

Target: Western Embassy Cairo

Today, the BBC News reported the arrest of three al-Qaeda militants in Cairo.  The reported target is a western embassy. That probably means, the three militants who were in the final stages of their terror plot were targeting New Zealand or Uruguay, either would do as a western embassy.  Dear US Embassy Cairo – since the mob was there to just say hello to you last year, it’s not you, carry on.  Excerpt from the BBC:

Egyptian police have arrested three al-Qaeda militants planning a suicide attack on a Western embassy, the country’s interior minister says.

Mohammed Ibrahim did not specify which embassy had been targeted, but said a quantity of chemicals had been found.

Mr Ibrahim gave the names of three men and said they were planning attacks in both Cairo and Alexandria.
[...]
All three men, described as jihadists, had been in touch with an al-Qaeda militant in Pakistan as well as another in the Sinai peninsula, the minister said.

He also linked the men to a group arrested last October who were accused of setting up a cell in the Nasr City area of Cairo.

Knife Attack: Not Tied to Any Larger Conspiracy

Last Thursday, Christopher Stone, an American citizen and a fellow at the American Research Center in Egypt, was attacked outside the perimeter of the embassy. US Embassy Cairo quickly released a statement that says the ongoing investigation has established that the “incident was not tied to any larger conspiracy.”

“Police investigating yesterday’s knife attack on the Embassy perimeter reported that the perpetrator has admitted to the attack and claimed his motivation was to seek revenge over U.S policies in the Middle East. The perpetrator carried out the attack after establishing his victim to be a U.S. citizen. The U.S. citizen victim is reportedly recovering and should be released from the hospital in the next day or so. The investigation, while still ongoing, has established that the perpetrator acted alone, and the incident was not tied to any larger conspiracy.”

Of course, it’s not a conspiracy! What a silly thing to suggest!

US Embassy Cairo – The Real Post Reports

Post Reports if you’re not familiar with them are detailed reports of every diplomatic post in the U.S. foreign service that are intended to help personnel decide where they want to go next.  It is part of the official bidding resources (see this old one from 2004 still available online via ediplomat.com – Post Report on Egypt).

A while back, the State Department removed the Post Reports from the Internet. Updated reports are now available only via Diplopedia in the State Department’s Intranet website.

Since these are part of the bidding tools, one can easily tell that every post report’s goal is to look as attractive as possible to the prospective bidders. And that’s probably the main reason why the Real Post Report (RPR) was born.  The Real Post Reports is the brainchild of a few Foreign Service spouses and now resides in the privately-run Tales from a Small Planet.  The website, run by volunteers no longer requires registration, so we feel better linking to that from this blog.

There are RPRs going back years.  Sometimes, you’re lucky if you see an RPR once a year. Here are a few examples:

  • Sana’a Yemen  has RPRs submitted in 2006, 2007 (two) and 2011.
  • Kabul, Afghanistan has RPRs submitted in 2008, 2009, 2010 (three) and 2013.
  • Peshawar, Pakistan has one RPR submitted in 2009, and one in 2010.
  • Baghdad, Iraq has one RPR submitted so far in 2013.
  • Tunis, Tunisia has one RPR submitted in 2012.
  • Khartoum, Sudan has at least one RPR submitted every year from 2006 – 2011.
  • Tripoli, Libya has one RPR from January 8, 2007

The RPRs, of course, are done voluntarily and submitted primarily by members of the Foreign Service as well as members of the expat community.

As of this writing, Cairo, Egypt has already six RPRs from January – March 2013 alone.  If that trend continues, we’ll have 24 RPRs by the end of the year. The reports were all written by volunteers affiliated with the US Government in Cairo with overseas experience ranging from a first tour to a seventh/multiple tours. (Note: The day after this post went online, two more RPRs were posted on Cairo here).

Here are excerpts from the Real Post Reports on Cairo culled from six eight reports:

Size of expat community

  • Large, but shrinking because of the political unrest.
  •  Dwindling.
  •  Not as large as before the revolution, but there are still a fair number of expats here.
  • The expat community in Cairo is very very large. Beyond the USG community (which is huge), there are substantial communities from the other embassies, a huge US military/contractor community, and a huge oil community. In addition, there are faculty at CAC and the American University in Cairo, along with other donor groups.
  •  Getting smaller by the day.

Morale among expats

  • Extremely low. Post management was too late in spotting and/or admitting that Cairo is getting worse, not better. Post management is highly unsympathetic to the plights of the little people, and they live a fairly sheltered life with teams of bodyguards and walled villas — while we hope we don’t get sexually assaulted or mugged on the way from our apartment to the Maadi House.
  •  At the moment it is pretty low because of the uncertainty. Crime is on the increase, and people are worried—not sure what is going to happen. The U.S. Embassy community is struggling because of our location right near all the activity of the last two plus years. But, having been here four years, I don’t regret it. I have enjoyed my time here and, if I had a choice, would have done it again. It’s been good for family. But I definitely see that many people are unhappy
  • Extremely low since the revolution – this place really is bad now. It seems that everyone you talk with is counting the days until they leave or they are contemplating curtailing.
  • Long gone. People are waiting for the end of their tours. The use of alcohol is increasing, and rumors about the deterioration of Egypt are circulating everywhere, including at school.
  • Among those I interact with it is very poor. Pessimism about the situation pervades life here. People don’t feel safe and don’t see any prospects that Egypt is going to improve in the near-term future. Even some long-time residents are packing up and heading elsewhere.
  •  Extremely poor. Everyone is trying to get out at the earliest opportunity. It has clearly not always been that way, but the country is going downhill fast.
  • Moral here is mixed. Really, it depends on who you spend time with! Many USG personnel prefer to spend their time only in the USG community. For many folks, it seems like Egypt is their first (and possibly only) developing world post – these folks often seem to be generally negative (i.e., it’s dirty, people are like home, etc.). It’s true that life in Cairo has its quirks, but It is a fascinating place. Egyptians are a generally nice people (who love kids), and life here is relatively easy in terms of amenities. That said, as in many places, the people who thrive here are those that can laugh at the quirks of the developing world and those who make sure to get away for breaks on a regular basis!
  •  Poor. Egypt has always been very dirty and frustrating, but for some people it used to be fun and exotic. Now, with the increasingly poor security, deteriorating infrastructure and criminality, and sense of entitlement of its population, most people—Egyptians included—are desperately trying to flee. Morale at the Embassy is poor, with people hoping for an evacuation.

Are there any special security concerns?

  • The security situation in Cairo is rapidly deteriorating. Egypt is seeing more jihadi extremism, constant protests/riots around the US Embassy, carjackings, and muggings. As tourism bottoms out, people are getting desperate and know that expats have money. Also, sexual assault and/or harassment is pretty much guaranteed to affect you or someone close to you.
  • Crime is on the increase since the revolution, but this is still a safe city.
  • Where to start? Daily power outages, sexual assaults on women, robbery by sudden snatching, theft, assault and battery, rape, getting shot at or attacked with rocks are now all common-place events since the revolution. Even the safe districts of Maadi have seen these issues, rise and the State Department thinks we are still the same 15% post we were pre-revolution. This is easily a 25% diff post now and the tours should only be for two years.
  • And how! Law enforcement, as noted earlier, is ineffective, and criminals have become more brazen—likely because they feel much more confident that they can get away with theft, robbery, sexual assault, etc. The security situation in North Africa and Sinai has created an Egypt in which there is no shortage of guns and other dangerous toys—and bad guys willing to use them. It isn’t at all clear whether a large-scale attack against Westerners hasn’t occurred because there is a lack of capability or a lack of will. Uncertainty about the security environment has created a tremendous amount of stress among expats and Egyptians alike.
  • Absolutely. This place is a war zone. The police are totally ineffective and will stand there and watch while you get robbed or are groped and molested. Carjackings are becoming a problem, with even a senior government minister falling victime to a random carjacking.
  • Since the revolution, security has become more of an issue. But Cairo was abnormally safe for a city of its size prior to the revolution and has now really just shifted to a security level one would expect for city of this size. The key factor is that the police force is relatively ineffective. So, when something does happen, there is little that can or will be done about it. In the expat areas (Maadi, Zamalak, and Dokki, primarily) there have been increases in issues such as purse snatchings, etc.
  • During Mubarak’s regime, Egypt was extremely safe. Now there are few police, and they are quite scared themselves to intervene. On a daily basis you see more and more disorder and chaos. Women are regularly accosted throughout Cairo, and crime has become a real problem.

Knowing what you now know, would you still go there?

  •  I would not wish this post on anyone.
  • Yes, I would do it again, but perhaps not four years. It’s never boring, and I can’t say that I love the place, or will ever come back, but I don’t regret the four years. And yes, I would do it again.
  •  NOOOO!
  • Yes. But we’d like to be recognized for the sacrifices we make. This would be as simple as seeing post management demonstrate that they care about our safety and security and recognize the very real hardships and dangers we face.
  • No. And when I leave, it will be with the intention of never returning. I had wanted to come to Egypt for quite some time, and it’s been a major disappointment.
  • Absolutely. It’s an experience that eveyone should have at least once in their lives—unless you have already lived in a war zone.
  • In a heartbeat! We have loved it, and would have no issues coming back here again, even with all the post-revolution changes—assuming, of course, that things don’t go downhill more than they have to date!
  • No way! Don’t come.

You may read the full Real Post Reports on Cairo here.

Meanwhile, on May 1st this year, Financial Times reported that homicides in Egypt tripled from 774 in 2010 to 2,144 last year; home invasions jumped from 7,368 in 2010 to 11,699 in 2012; kidnapping for ransom rose from 107 in 2010 to 412 in 2012.  The US Embassy published its Egypt 2012 OSAC Crime and Safety Report in February last year. It’s now May and we’re still looking for the 2013 report.


Quick Check – Is There An Abyss in “Abysmal Morale?”

Now, if you’ve been following this blog, you will noticed that we’ve been blogging about the goings on at the U.S.  Embassy in Cairo. No, not just because its Twitter team occasionally make a large splash but also because of a reported “abysmal morale” at post. See this blog post —  US Embassy Bangui: 15% Danger Post With Terrifically Bad Trimmings, It’s Not Alone –Wassup Cairo?

Can you imagine what happened then?

Apparently, following the blog post, the DCM (is it still Marc Seivers?) stormed into the security office demanding to know “who leaked the story to that damn blog…”  and not getting the answer he want, slammed the door on the way out.

Uh-oh!

But really, it’s okay, we’ve been called worse than “damn.”

So anyway, “that damn blog”  has learned that Embassy Cairo was recently host to high level visits presumably to see if there was an abyss in “abysmal morale.”

We understand that post visitors included Ambassador Hans Klemm, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of Human Resources (DGHR),  Elizabeth Dibble, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), and Paul Reid, the Director for Entry Level Career Development and Assignments (DGHR/CDA).

We don’t know yet what they found at Embassy Cairo.  But we heard that there is one team heading that way to um ….  look around or something. Another team who’s trip had been previously postponed is also heading that way again …

What a relief that the Interior Minister did not specify which western embassy had been targeted.  It could have been Venezuela, you know.

– DS

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May 6, 2013 · 12:58 am

Top Ten Signs Your Embassy Might Be Dysfunctional … or Just Plain Dreadful

 

1.  Mission Favorites.  Mission staffer’s favorite movie is “Under Siege” but not/not because they’re die-hard fans of Steven Seagal.  The mission’s theme song is  “Front Office in a Bubble” to the tune of Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle and it’s not because they want to save time in the bubble and spend them with you.

2.  Voluntold.  When the Front Office holds a meeting on morale participants had to be voluntold so there are real people in the room and not just left over cardboard cut-outs of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama from election past.

3.  Liquor Store Run.  Every town hall meeting causes a minor run on the commissary liquor store. This is not necessarily bad as it improves the commissary’s bottom line but, but when employees get up with a hangover the day after every town hall meeting, that is never a good sign.

4.  Not So Cute Nicknames.  Front Office executives and senior managers get nicknames that are neither cute nor fit for polite conversation. The nicknames are occasionally funny, that is, funny to everyone except to those they have been assigned to.

5.  Suck  It Up Buttercup.  The embassy’s motto of DMWL or “doing more with less” has been replaced with SIUB or “suck it up buttercup.”  If employees have legitimate concerns that are impairing their ability to do the work they are sent to do and you tell them to suck it up, what kind of manager does that make you?

6.  Hamsters on Wheels.  Mission staffers ask questions about crisis preparedness in various re-iterations, repeats, rinses, then do over again and again like hamsters on a wheel.  When employees kept repeating the same questions over and over it means 1) they’re not getting the answers they need or 2) they do not believe what you’re telling them.  In which case, they’ll keep asking those questions until they’re satisfied with the answer.

7.  Rumor Has It.  The rumor factory has taken over the embassy compound like the pink slime from Ghostbusters. Rumors express and gratify “the emotional needs of the community.” It occupies the space when that need is not meet, and particularly when there is deficient communication between the front office and the rest of the mission.

8. Humor-less.  It’s been a long time since anyone at post had a real good laugh. Once humor becomes the missing link in the chain of command, then that is a sign of not good things to come.  Employees who are unhappy, demoralized, despondent, frustrated, angry have a hard time laughing at anything unless they are laughing at their senior managers.

9. Post Trends. El Jefe of one of the largest sections at post is suddenly retiring. The resident regional psychiatrist also curtails and retires.  And just about everyone has a curtailment plan.  The non-resident regional psychiatrist posted across the globe has been told he/she is spending way too much time at post. The community liaison officer shows up at Country Team meetings wearing a mockingjay pin. (In The Hunger Games, the mockingjay is a symbol of rebellion and hope among the districts). Uh-oh, trends — the not so subtle and the crafty. And don’t even think about making mocking jay pins illegal.

Mockingjay Pin via wikia.com

10. Fan Mail.  Demoralized embassy employees in the Republic of Z send howlers to this blog.  Not one email or two email but emails from the parliament of owls.  Frankly, they are worse than those listed on Harry Potter’s Owl Post.  If you think being featured in this blog is bad, think about how much worse your morning can be when you end up in Al Kamen’s In The Loop column, widely read  by the chattering crowd inside the beltway and the Seventh Floor.

The end.

–DS

 

 

 

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December 10, 2012 · 9:28 am

Are You Ready for the Naked Diplomat? FCO’s Man in Beirut Strips Down

… to 140 characters, that is. Sorry, cannot pass up on The World Today’s title :-) .

Tom Fletcher CMG, the British Ambassador in Beirut since August 2011 has an interesting piece in the Dec/Jan issue of The Today’s World. An iPad rather than letters of credence? A digital demarche? The need to  interact, not just transmit? Are you ready to abandon the banquet in favor of the smart phone? Excerpt below:

via Chatham House’s The World Today, Volume 68, Number 11 (pdf):

When people ask me whether at 37 I am too young to be an ambassador, I sometimes wonder if perhaps I am too old. I worked in No 10 for the last ‘pen’ PM, Tony Blair; for the first ‘email’ PM, Gordon Brown; and for the first ‘iPad’ PM, David Cameron. Delivery of government services by social media is being transformed.
[...]
Diplomacy has always been Darwinian: we have to evolve or die, just as diplomats did when sea routes opened up or the telephone was invented. Someone once said that you could replace the Foreign Office with a fax. We saw off the fax, and – only this year  – the telegram. Now we have to show that you cannot replace us with Wikipedia and Skype.

Social media are now indispensable to our core tasks: information harvesting; analysis; influence; promotion of English as the code for cyberspace; crisis management; commercial work. Imagine a reception at which all your key contacts were interacting. You would not stand in the corner silently or shouting platitudes, nor delegate the event.

In this brave new digital world, the most effective diplomats will carry an iPad rather than letters of credence; a digital demarche will be more powerful than a diplomatic one; and the setpiece international conference of the 20th century will be replaced by more fluid, open interaction with the people whose interests we represent. For the first time ever, diplomats can engage directly on a meaningful scale with the countries we live in. We no longer have to focus solely on elites to make our case.

This is exciting, challenging and subversive. Getting it wrong could start a war: imagine if a diplomat misguidedly tweeted a link to the offensive anti-Islam  film which provoked riots across the Muslim world. Getting it right has the potential to rewrite the diplomatic rulebook.
[...]
The digital revolution has opened up a new frontier. Equipped with the right kit and the right courage, diplomats should – as ever – be among its pioneers. Diplomacy not just for diplomats; but not diplomacy without diplomats. Jamie Oliver pioneered the idea of ‘The Naked Chef’ – pared back, simplified, focused on the essential essence of the job. The Naked Diplomat needs a smartphone and those oldest of diplomatic attributes – thick skin and an open mind.

Continue reading, Our man in Beirut strips down to 140 characters.

He also blogged about the naked diplomat here.  Follow Ambassador Tom Fletcher on Twitter @hmatomfletcher.

The State Department has Alex Ross upfront on the digital frontier.  There is also career diplomat, Richard Boly of eDiplomacy.  And we have several American ambassadors populating Twitter.  But we don’t know that we have any of the our credentialed ambassadors openly talk about their thoughts and their work on how they bridge the digital world in diplomacy.  If anyone has talked about this inside the building and we missed it, zap me a note.

domani spero sig

 

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October 19, 2012 · 1:18 am

US Army Activates “Warrior Diplomats” … Unlike State’s Expeditionary Diplomats, These Got Guns

I almost forgot this item I saw from the US Army a few weeks ago.  After the “build phase” is completed, we can expect at least five battalions of “warrior diplomats.”  Since a battalion has around 300–1,200 soldiers, the new warrior diplomats brigade can have a as low as 1,500 soldiers or as high as 6,000 for a brigade consisting of five battalions.

FORT HOOD, Texas, Sept. 22, 2011 — A brand new unit now has a home at Fort Hood. The 85th Civil Affairs Brigade officially stood up at the “Great Place” Sept. 16, after years of planning and coordination.
[...]
“In 2007, the Army saw a need for additional civil affairs capabilities,” Ruth explained. At that time, only one active-duty brigade-sized civil affairs unit existed — the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) which is aligned under U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C.

After the surge in Iraq was announced in 2007, Ruth said nearly half of the USASOC civil affairs Soldiers were deployed to the Middle East to support ongoing operations. Plans were made to build another brigade, although that process took some time.

“We are in the build phase now,” Ruth said. “By the time we finish building the brigade, we will have five battalions. Each battalion will be oriented on a geographic combatant command.”

The 85th Civil Affairs Bde. is a direct-reporting unit to U.S. Army Forces Command. In addition, the brigade’s first battalion, the 81st Civil Affairs Battalion, stood up Sept. 16 at Fort Hood. That battalion is oriented to Southern Command.

In September 2012, two additional battalions will stand up. They include the 83rd Civil Affairs Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C., which will be oriented to Central Command, and the 82nd Civil Affairs Battalion at Fort Stewart, Ga., which will be oriented to Africa Command.

The two final battalions will activate in September 2013 and will include the 80th Civil Affairs Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., which will be oriented to Pacific Command, and the 84th Civil Affairs Battalion at Fort Bliss, which will support European Command.

There’s a simple reason for the roll out of the brigades, according to Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Berry, the brigade’s senior enlisted advisor.

“Part of the challenge of what we have (is) the MOS (military occupational specialty) and the branch have only existed since 2007,” he said. “So as we’re building capacity in the branch, we’re expanding the units at the same time.”

Soldiers that are interested in the civil affairs branch have a challenging road ahead of them before they can join a battalion or a brigade.

“We recruit from inside the Army,” Berry said. “The process is quite lengthy.”

Interested Soldiers must first meet the qualifications and go through a screening process. If they make it through that level but are not yet parachutists, they must complete Airborne school. After that, there is the official civil affairs MOS qualification course, and finally, the Soldiers must learn a foreign language, which means months of additional schooling.
[...]
“It’s very busy, but it’s also very rewarding to do something that not very many people have an opportunity to do in the Army, and that’s stand something up from nothing.”

Standing up a brigade requires identifying unit facilities, creating procedures and policies, and working closely with Human Resources Command to make sure positions are properly staffed, in addition to dozens of other tasks on a daily basis.

“I don’t think we could do this at any other place except Fort Hood, and that goes back to the superb level of support we’re getting,” Ruth said.

The Civil Affairs brigade at Fort Hood equips FORSCOM with a crucial tool, a team of “warrior diplomats,” eager to leave their mark on the world.

“The mission is to provide FORSCOM with a civil affairs capability,” Ruth said. “It can do three things, (including) support the Army Force Generation cycle with civil affairs operators. The second capability that we provide FORSCOM is the ability to provide peacetime engagement throughout the world, and then the last thing we provide is the ability to support any emergent operations.

“So if we have another Haiti (earthquake) or flood in Indonesia, now we have civil affairs Soldiers who can go out and lend their expertise in mitigating those disasters,” he added.

Civil affairs Soldiers play a crucial role in both war and peace, although Ruth admitted that the branch is sometimes misunderstood.

“There’s a misnomer out there that what we do is hand out MREs (meals, ready-to-eat) and dig wells,” he said. “That’s not exactly what we do. We can facilitate that, but we do things for specific reasons, and that’s really to legitimize the local, regional or national government, and facilitate the commander’s ability to operate in theater.”

At the tactical level, civil affairs Soldiers serve as an intermediary between a commander on the ground and local village representatives. That’s where the in-depth training and language skills make all the difference in the world.

“Because of all that training and the way we select those Soldiers, we’re going to be able to provide the Army with a mature Soldier, a Soldier that has the ability to think on his or her feet,” Berry said.

“You can put them in a situation and they may not know the answer when they get there, but they’re going to keep working at it until they figure out what the answer is. They also have the ability to work with people and understand people.”

“Our motto is ‘warrior diplomat’ because we have to be warriors. We have to be Soldiers,” Ruth said. “But the Soldiers also have to add the diplomatic capability to where they can diffuse dissension, identify what the local vulnerabilities are and really bring people together.”
[...]
To mark the brigade’s activation, the unit will host a ceremony at the flagpole in front of III Corps Headquarters Sept. 30 at 9 a.m. The public is invited to attend.

The full article is here.

By September 2013, the full brigade with an upper count of possibly 6,000 soldiers will be in place. One battalion of warrior diplomats will support each combatant command: Central, Southern, Pacific, European and Africom.

To put this in perspective: the diplomatic service, officially called the United States Foreign Service and tasked with carrying out the foreign policy of these United States in over 270 posts overseas has about 13,000 staff members.  Only about 6,500 are Foreign Service officers.  Indeed, they could easily fit aboard a single aircraft carrier.

In the FY2012 budget State requested an addition of 197 full time Foreign Service and Civil Service – a growth of 1 percent, and 165 new positions for USAID. I can’t tell how many additional staffing was granted. But the FY2012 budget request for the State Department was $62.7 billion, and only $53.4 billion was enacted.

For FY2013, State has again requested additional staffing, this time, for 121 new positions (83 Foreign Service and 38 civil service) in high priority programs and regions.

And that’s that for the chopping block, until the next round.

Also — the State Department’s hiring effort called Diplomacy 3.0 to increase its Foreign Service workforce by 25 percent by 2013 was derailed due to emerging budgetary constraints. It is anticipated that this goal will not be met until 2023.

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November 30, 2011 · 5:06 am

Democratic Pakistan Bans BBC World News Over "Secret Pakistan" Documentary

Deutsch: Logo des Fernsehsenders BBC World News.Image via WikipediaAccording  to BBC News, Pakistani cable television operators have begun blocking the BBC’s international news TV channel, BBC World News. This move was apparently due to a critical documentary broadcast entitled Secret Pakistan. Excerpts:

The BBC said it was deeply concerned by the move, and called for its channel to be speedily reinstated.

“We condemn any action that threatens our editorial independence and prevents audiences from accessing our impartial international news service,” a BBC spokesperson said.

“We would urge that BBC World News and other international news services are reinstated as soon as possible.”

The two-part BBC documentary questioned the country’s commitment to tackling Taliban militancy.
[...]
The decision to block BBC World News and other international news channels comes after a media uproar in Pakistan over a Nato air strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border at the weekend.

The All Pakistan Cable Operators Association announced on Tuesday that all foreign news channels airing “anti-Pakistan” content would be barred from Wednesday.

The operators called on the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) “to revoke the landing rights of foreign channels” if they are found to be “propagating” information harmful to the country.
[...]
Correspondents say it is not possible to see BBC World News in most Pakistani cities, with the ban expected to be extended to rural areas by Wednesday.

Cable Operators Association spokesman Khalid Arain said that no foreign anti-Pakistan channel would “ever” be broadcast in the country.

“We want to send them a strong message to stop this. If they don’t stop this, then it is our right to stop them,” he said.

Correspondents say the Pakistani government is likely to have put pressure on the operators to impose the ban.

Active link added above.  Read in full here.

The two-part documentary is, of course, now available on YouTube for everyone to see and unless pulled by BBC for copyright issues, available to anyone with access to the web. 

Secret Pakistan : Documentary by BBC Part 1
(Double Cross) | Length: 59:03
http://youtu.be/qSinK-dVrig

from BBC: In May this year, US Special Forces shot and killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. Publicly Pakistan is one of America’s closest allies – yet every step of the operation was kept secret from it.


Filmed largely in Pakistan and Afghanistan, this two-part documentary series explores how a supposed ally stands accused by top CIA officers and Western diplomats of causing the deaths of thousands of coalition soldiers in Afghanistan. It is a charge denied by Pakistan’s military establishment, but the documentary makers meet serving Taliban commanders who describe the support they get from Pakistan in terms of weapons, training and a place to hide.

This first episode investigates signs of duplicity that emerged after 9/11 and disturbing intelligence reports after Britain’s forces entered Helmand in 2006.

Secret Pakistan : Documentary by BBC Part 2
(Backlash) | Length: 58:59
http://youtu.be/G5-lSSC9dSE

from BBC: The second film in this timely and enthralling two-part documentary series reveals how Britain and America discovered compelling evidence that Pakistan was secretly helping the Taliban and concluded they had been double-crossed.


It tells the story of how under President Obama the US has waged a secret war against Pakistan. Taliban commanders tell the film makers that to this day Pakistan shelters and arms them, and helps them kill Western troops – indeed one recently captured suicide bomber alleges he was trained by Pakistani intelligence.

Chillingly, the film also reveals that, based on some evidence, Pakistani intelligence stands accused of sabotaging possible peace talks. Pakistan denies these charges, but relations between Pakistan and America now verge on hostility.

Since it is inevitable that some clips of this documentary will bleed into prime time news, I suspect that a host of foreign channels will also be banned for “propagating information harmful to the country.”

Perhaps, the cable operators would like to use the following programming filler – a music video, titled “Zindagi Hai Yahan.”  This has been created to showcase the treasures of the beautiful valley of Swat and promote it as a premium tourist destination in Pakistan, with assistance from USAID and the people of the United States of America:


Read more on Tourism Takes On Taliban (IPS) and USAID Support to Tourism in Swat. 

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September 14, 2011 · 4:02 am

Foreign Service Blogging: Tigers Have Teeth, Rather Sharp … Rawr!!!

Our blog pal, Donna of Email From the Embassy recently posted about trying to figure out “why some State bloggers are allowed to blog, while others are, shall we say, vigorously discouraged.”

A while back someone else also wrote to inform me that he/she was “strongly reminded” that blogging can lead to at least pulling the security clearance, forced (involuntary) curtailment, followed by loss of job, arrest, detainment and prosecution.

Understandably, that blog is not here or there, anymore.

The Tigers roared baring fangs, which means the threat of no food on the table, arrest, detainment, well, just about everything, really.  Except they forgot to include non-promotion and career suicide. Of course, if you lose your job, there would be no point worrying about a promotion or a career.

Exactly. See how that works?! Big Rawr!


They also forgot to mention perpetual detainment at Gitmo. First amendment, my foot! If your blog links to any cable released by WikiLeaks, the Tigers will probably bite you for secondary leaking of classified materials. Or worse, espionage!

Fear as we all know is a great motivator.  And it is probably worth noting that Tigers are stalk-and-ambush hunter, and the stripes are good camouflage in the long grass. Check with the Post Report if your next assignment has long grasses.

In some places, the Foreign Service is now like a scene out of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, only this time, the letter one wears in not “A” for Adultery but “B” for Blogger. You blog at your own risk under the Big House’s 21st century statecraft jungle regardless of the nice things they say about freedom and the Internets.

Here are a few things I’m kicking around the campfire concerning the various disappearances of Foreign Service bloggers through the years. A quick caveat: I am talking out loud there, so try not to misconstrue the following as an advice in any shape or form; they’re not.  Also please do not write and ask for “real” examples of “Tiger” blog take down.  They are not my stories to tell and I respect the privacy of the bloggers who make no public explanation of their online death.

“Vague” Blogging, More Confusing Than You Think

One of my correspondents write that it seems like “FS bloggers should never mention *anything* about work.”  Why? Probably because vague blogging isn’t as vague as you think and you never know who’s reading your blog?  Even if Diplomatic Security sees no problem with your blog, your regional/functional bureau or post management may have issues with it.  I don’t think it has anything to do with what you write per se, it has everything to do with fear and the lack of control. Fear from management that your blog has a ready, captive audience and fear that you might write something out of turn. And there is the notion that you have a direct connection to an audience and your right to self expression has not undergone any sort of vetting by the higher-ups who luv their red pens!

A misplaced fear, for sure. No FS blogger as far as I know has caused any international incident to-date. Can’t say the same for our non-blogging diplomats at the US Consulate in Hyderabad, and the US Consulate General in Chennai who both suffered from foot in mouth disease here and here.

You’re all smart, of drinking age and can vote, so what’s the problem?  Well, I think perhaps the Tiger daddies are wondering — what if you’re like a car with no brakes when it comes to blogging? Thus, FSOs are trusted with classified materials but cannot be trusted to know what they can/cannot write publicly online.  Spouses and partners (aka: Eligible Family Members or EFMs) on the other hand should be seen but not read because they ought not have opinions about anything whatsoever, being just spouses and all with no  logons (no logons = not real people). EFMs have long been declared their own persons under the Big House rules. Apparently, they are their own person but there’s no reason why they should have their own opinions!

Borderline idiotic to put it politely.

Blogging About Anything With a C is Bad For Your Health

Another correspondent suggested that maybe folks should never blog anything that could be perceived as critical towards the Foggied Bottom, the Foreign Service, the host country, or ones clients (visa applicants, AmCits, official contacts, etc. etc.), even if you’re only complaining about somebody sneezing or snoring loudly.

Concerned about all promotions going to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan hands regardless of actual performance? Okay, but that may not be the best subject to blog about, most especially if you’re bidding.

Big House functionaries talking about internet freedom really hurts your ears now? Okay, but it won’t do any good to talk about the cause of that ear ache in your blog.

You cannot/cannot blog about the smell you have to endure as you sit in your visa interview window because it’s bad form to talk about body odors, period. You cannot/cannot blog and complain about seeing boobies with nursing mommies as you conduct visa interviews because breastfeeding is udderly not optional when you have a screaming infant. Trust me on this.

You cannot make snarky comments in your blog about your Amcit clients no matter how loony and unreasonable their demands might be (they are covered by the Privacy Act of 1974). You cannot complain in your blog that your host country has no sidewalks, it might upset the Tourism Bureau. You cannot complain in your blog about getting Montezuma’s Revenge because it might upset the host country’s Sanitation Bureau.  And on and on …you get the drift? Somewhere there’s a fill in the blank form in the shared drive on what FSOs should not
blog about, but don’t look for that list in the FAM.

EFMs must not blog about how every transfer is like a reinvention of wheels at the Big House because it would make the HR Bureau look bad. Gawd lord! They should not blog that their spouse’s HR Technician kept messing up their Travel Orders because it makes the HR staff look incompetent (and some of them are). They should blog zilch /nada about housing, because hey, it’s free housing and the leaking roof should not be a big deal! They should not blog about the American school because isn’t it enough that you are in a country with an American school? EFMs above all should not blog too loudly about the lack of embassy jobs; didn’t ya know that 9.1% of Americans in the United States of America are out of work?! Somewhere there’s a fill in the blank form about what EFMs should not blog about, but it’s a secret until they call you or your spouse for that Talk.  (I’m having a hard time locating my sarcasm off button, sorry!)

Blogging in Lake Wobegon, the International Edition

Still one more correspondent wailed that she only blogged about her life, what’s wrong with that?  Well, I don’t know what’s wrong with that either.  It looks like if you blog about yourself and your hobbies OR your feelings (I had a bad day, I’m lonely in my new country, the singles crowd sucks, I can’t use the APO or pouch for my home business, my spouse is too attentive to his FSN, or whatever else is the color, flavor or heartache of the day) the Tigers may do more than growl. Because obviously, if you are not happy in your host country, you are not/not trying hard enough at it. Readers and Tigers may feel you’re not a great fit in this lifestyle of the not so famous possible evacuees.  You are the face of Lake Wobegon International, after all; a less than perfect or happy example is not/not a good thing.

5 FAM 790 (Using Social Media): A Lamppost of Discouragement

The Big House makes a big deal about freedom of expression and internet freedom in the public square but in reality those things do not mean a lot inside the big house. Even as the organization tries to project itself as being innovative, it is hindered by its outdated structure, regulations and hierarchy.  5 FAM 790 (Using Social Media) is a pretense of sorts by virtue of its impracticality.  Even in private writings, FSOs are supposed to request permission for their blog posts, tweets and anything they write under the  “of official concern” umbrella.  Which is like the whole world, see from Algeria to Zimbabwe.

Under the regs, the agency gets at least 30 days to review submissions. Who has the time to do that? More to the point, who has the time to approve such personal writings done outside of work? And if one FS blogger is expressly required to obtain multiple clearances for his/her blog posts/tweets/etc but others are not, what does that mean?  And if  the blog posts are not cleared in 30 days, is the blogger then free to publish all his/her stale blog posts/stale tweets/stale etc. and private ruminations without the Tigers growling?  Most blogs carry the necessary disclaimers required under the regs, but I understand that the Big House can still declare them insufficient.  Which makes me now think that 5 FAM 790 which cites 27 legal authorities is there not really as a guide but as a lamppost of discouragement.

It’s as if it is saying — you are free to blog/tweet/summersault online in this great free country of ours, but it’s best for your own sake, if you don’t.

The regs says that “As a general matter, the Department encourages the responsible use of social media consistent with current laws, policies and guidance that govern information and information technology. Department organizations will not arbitrarily ban access to or the use of social media.”

I think the key phrase is “responsible use” which is, of course, subject to interpretation but — not your interpretation of what is “responsible.”

“Allowed” to Blog, Much Better for Mini-DipNotes?

I am convinced that some bloggers are “allowed” to blog by default because their bosses have no idea what a blog is. Seriously.

Some bloggers are “allowed” to blog because maybe they are lucky enough to have adult bosses with no control issues who recognize that warts and all are part and parcel of real life, even in organizations. As long as your blog does not end up in NYT or Al Kamen’s column, you’re safe. Of course, their bosses may have blogs, too :-) and did not want to be outed!

Some bloggers are “allowed” to blog because no one has yet complained about them, or the blog is obscure enough it does not register on anyone’s radar screen.

Some bloggers are “allowed” to blog because their bosses look the other way.  These blogs are usually like mini-DipNotes. What’s the harm in letting them PR blog for free? And if they write something nice about their bosses, then that is super great, too.

Finally, I think some bloggers are “allowed” to blog because the Big House has not yet found the right stick to scare them to death and make them stop.  In almost all instances  they eventually find the right stick, so the blog disappears. Unless … the blog stays …. in which case … well, that’s another story down the road.

FS Blogs, a Questionable Future…Maybe, Maybe Not

I’ve lost count the number of FS blogs that have gone dark.  A trend that is both disturbing and sad.  In the end, I think every FS blogger must decide on his/her own comfort level and decide how much grief he/she is willing to put up with in order to blog, tweet or FB.  As long as the Big House considers blogging a “dangerous” hobby or preoccupation even in its employees/family members private capacities, this is also a “livelihood” issue.  When you butt head with city hall, you will get more than a headache.

They presumably can dig up everything “bad” you have done previously (what, you did not recycle in Caracas?). Apparently, they can also yank your security clearance, which would make it almost impossible to do work anywhere in the Foggied Bottom except cleaning latrines, if you’re lucky. As to why they are running after spouses who blog, who after all are not employees of the U.S. Government and have long been declared their own persons, I can’t say.

Below is a snippet on blogging by Mitch Joel dubbed the “Rock Star of Digital Marketing:”

I had the opportunity to interview Lemmy from Motorhead.
Within the rock circle, Lemmy is the equivalent of Jesus. A true
pioneer. But, unlike most rock stars, Lemmy has a couple of really big
warts on his face, very greasy hair and truly lives the “sex, drugs and
rock n’ roll lifestyle.” Basically, he says and does what he wants and
never answers to anyone but himself.

A Blog can’t be Bon Jovi. A Blog is much more like Lemmy.

You can get away with mis-spelled words, non-precise grammar and it’s
supposed to have more of a stream-of-consciousness flow to it. A Blog
is the glory of a personal voice – warts and all. That is why people are
gravitating toward them.


Just so you know I am not advocating a free for all blog world, please read my post, Secretary Clinton on #NetFreedom … excuse me for not clapping … where I talked about the restrictions that come with being an employee and the trade offs we all make whether in the public
sector, the private sector or even my own nowhere place.  The
trade-offs, remember? 

The Scaredy World of Blogging

The genie if out of the bottle. It refuses to go back in!

When I started blogging a few years back, there were a few dozen Foreign Service bloggers.  Today, there are close to 500 blogs by Foreign Service officers, specialists and family members. Even as I watch blogs go quietly dark, I have also seen the number of bloggers grow like weeds.   Some blogs go silent especially after a scaredy session at A-100 but others eventually return online. Some blogs get password-protected, others eventually come out in the open.

And as blogs go dark, other blogs soon take their places.  The cycle of life mimics itself even online.

Unless the Big House makes reasonable tweaks and accommodations in its unhelpful regulations on blogging and the use of social media, there will come a time when it’ll need be forced to create a new office: the Office of Professional Responsibility in Participatory Media.  The new office obviously would need a new staff just to keep track, and monitor this active writerly group in the Foreign Service community. It would also need new staff to process and clear blog posts, tweets, FB posts, public forum posts, etc. etc. from Foreign Service community members.  It would need new staff to write up pink slips for those who write outside the chalk marks. Above all, it would need an Ombudsman to ensure that the 30 day clearance requirement is adhered to and is not an excuse to derail the scheduled blog post of any member of the community.

I’d like to hear how they’ll explain that personnel expansion to Congress.

Truth to tell, I have not seen or heard of Tigers actually yanking anybody’s clearance due to an offending blog. I am aware of private sessions of discouragements, issues with onward assignments, and of course, threats of various colors and stripes among FS bloggers.  And as far as I know, they have not technically kicked out anyone who blogs either –  unless you call the “push” to retirement a payback kick.

Fear as we all know is a great motivator.  Sometimes, a Tiger’s growl is just that, a growl and enough to do the job. Of course, it does not mean that the Tiger will not also eat you!

Housekeeping

1) If you would rather that I not link to you in my side bar, please send me a quick email at http://www.contactify.com/29ca0. I will promptly remove the link.

2) I have stopped the practice of highlighting FS blogs at DiploPundit. If you write something  interesting that I absolutely must link to, or highlight for my readership, I will send an email request for permission before I do so.

3) Somebody asked if anyone has ever threatened this blog. The answer is no. But if it happens, the threat will be publish in full.

4) Do make a mental note that I do not/not
work for the Big House. I monitor the goings on in the Foggied Bottom because, why not?  It’s a hard job, somebody’s gotta do it.  Please read my disclaimer.

 

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March 23, 2011 · 11:49 am

From Middle East to North Africa – Journalists Killed, Missing, Arrested, Deported and It’s Not Over Yet

Reporters Without Borders recently released a statement on the journalists killed, missing, arrested and deported in protests areas from the Middle East to North Africa. It says that the list of media freedom violations gets longer. Below from RWB:

LIBYA}

Reporters Without Borders is very worried about the fate of Stéphane Lehr, an experienced French freelance photographer working for Polaris Images, who went missing early yesterday afternoon shortly after arriving in Benghazi with a French TV crew.

The head of Polaris Images, Jean-Pierre Pappis, said the last contact with Lehr was a message received at 7 a.m. New York time (1 p.m. in Libya). “He sent us an email saying: ‘I have just arrived in Benghazi. I am trying to leave this afternoon for the front. Nothing is certain.’”
One of Lehr’s fellow journalists said he set off in the direction of Ajdabiya, a town on the coast 160 km south of Benghazi.
Lehr’s case brings the number of journalists currently missing in Libya to four. Agence France-Presse previously said it had received no word from two of its reporters – Dave Clark, 38, and Roberto Schmidt, 45 – since the evening of 18 March, when they were near the eastern city of Tobruk.
In a statement, AFP reported that they had “said in an email on Friday evening that they intended to travel some 30 km from Tobruk on Saturday morning to meet opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and interview refugees fleeing the fighting.” Getty Images photographer Joe Raedle was travelling with them.
Four Al-Jazeera journalists who were arrested near the western town of Zawiya are meanwhile still being held by pro-Gaddafi forces.
Reporters Without Borders is also without any news of six Libyan journalists.
* * *

Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi and his allies have not stopped their abuses in response to the UN Security Council resolution of 17 March authorizing the use of force to protect civilians. Foreign journalists and their Libyan colleagues continue to be targeted in both the east and the west of the country. Seven journalists are currently missing while a Libyan blogger was killed by a sniper on 19 March in Benghazi. Reporters Without Borders urges the Libyan authorities to end their violence against all journalists.

The Libyan blogger and journalist who was shot on 19 March was Mohamed Al-Nabbous, also known as Mo. He was providing live commentary on developments when he was killed. After the Internet was blocked in Libya, he launched his own TV station, Libya Al-Hurra, which broadcast by satellite. He was the second journalist to be killed in Libya since the start of the fighting. Al-Jazeera cameraman Ali Hassan Al-Jaber was fatally shot in an ambush as he was returning to Benghazi on 12 March. A colleague was injured in the same incident.

Al-Jazeera reported on 19 March that four of its journalists were arrested by pro-Gaddafi forces a week ago. The four – Mauritanian reporter Ahmed Vall Ould el-Dine, Tunisian reporter Lotfi Messaoudi, Norwegian photographer Ammar Al-Hamdane and British photographer Kamel Ataloua – had entered the country across the Tunisian border and were covering the fighting between rebels and government forces in Zawiya, to the west of the capital.

Agence France-Presse said it has received no word from two of its reporters – Dave Clark, 38, and Roberto Schmidt, 45 – since the evening of 18 March, when they were near the eastern city of Tobruk. In a statement, AFP reported that they had “said in an email on Friday evening that they intended to travel some 30 km from Tobruk on Saturday morning to meet opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and interview refugees fleeing the fighting.” Getty Images photographer Joe Raedle was travelling with them.

The four New York Times journalists who were arrested on 15 March have been released. They are currently at the Turkish embassy in Tripoli and were due to leave the country in the next few hours via Tunisia.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, there has been no work since the start of the uprising from six Libyan journalists who are known critics of the government. The CPJ said it is rumoured that they are currently being held by pro-Gaddafi forces.


I have inserted below additional items on Mohamed Al-Nabbous:

Mohammed Nabbous (d. March 19, 2011) known by his moniker “Mo,” was the founder of Libya Al-Hurra TV, the first private television station established in Benghazi, Libya in the wake of the February 17 2011 Libyan uprising in Libya, which helped spark the Libyan Revolution in 2011.  Nabbous’ expectant wife announced his tragic death in a video on Libya Al-Hurra TV.

http://cdn.livestream.com/embed/libya17feb?layout=4&clip=pla_9745ec21-c64d-440f-abe7-a412e7db456d&color=0xe7e7e7&autoPlay=false&mute=false&iconColorOver=0×888888&iconColor=0×777777&allowchat=true

Watch live streaming video from libya17feb at livestream.com

YEMEN}

The Yemeni authorities ordered Al-Jazeera journalists Ahmed Zidan and Abdulhaq Saddah to leave the country on 19 March on the grounds that they were working illegally in Yemen and were inciting violence. An information ministry official told the government news agency Saba that they had “provoked the Yemeni people” by their coverage of the demonstrations in Yemen in recent weeks. The authorities had confiscated transmission equipment from Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya on 11 March on the grounds that their coverage of protests in the south of the country was biased.

The deportation order came one day after the massacre in Sanaa’s Change Square in which 52 people were killed, including photographer Jamal Al-Sharabi of the independent daily Al-Masdar, and 126 people were wounded.
Six other foreign journalists were deported a week ago. Four of them were arrested in Sanaa and expelled on 14 March. They were Oliver Holmes, a Briton who strings for the Wall Street Journal and Time, Portia Walker, a Briton who strings for the Washington Post, Haley Sweetland Edwards, an American who writes for the Los Angeles Times and AOL News, and Joshua Maricich, an American who writes for various media including the Yemen Times.
The other two – Patrick Symmes, a US journalist working for Outside magazine, and Italian photographer Marco Di Lauro – were detained on arrival at Sanaa airport on 12 March after visiting the Yemeni island of Socotra and were deported the same day.


SYRIA}

People began staging sit-ins, marches and demonstrations to demand more freedom in various parts of the country on 15 March, defying the state of emergency that has been in effect since 1963. The authorities have used violence to disperse these protests and have arrested demonstrators arbitrarily. They have also stepped up their restrictions on journalists, in many cases denying them access to the sites of the protests.
Several international news agencies were prevented from covering the demonstrations that have been taking place since 18 March in the southern city of Deraa (near the Jordanian border), where the authorities opened fire on the protesters. According to Human Rights Watch, five people were killed (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/20/syria-government-crackdown-leads-protester-deaths).
Reporters Without Borders has learned that the journalist, poet and novelist Mohammed Dibo was arrested on the night of 18 March at his home in Al-Annazah, in the northwestern city of Baniyas, where demonstrations were held earlier in the day to demand reforms.
Dibo writes for various newspapers including Jordan’s Al-Dustour and many news websites such as Al-Waan (run by the Association of Rational Arabs), Bab el Moutawasset (MediterraneanGate.net), which covers the various cultures of the Mediterranean basin, Lamp Of Freedom (http://lampoffreedom.com/) and Shukumaku (http://www.shukumaku.com/Default.php).

Mazen Darwich, the founder of the Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression, was arrested on 16 March while attending a peaceful sit-in outside the interior ministry in Damascus as an observer. He was later released.


BAHRAIN}

Ali Abdulemam, a blogger who was freed on 22 February after several months in prison, was arrested again on 17 March amid a continuing crackdown on human rights activists. After being set free again, he went into hiding to avoid further arrest. The BBC said his wife, who was very outspoken during his months in detention, is now refusing to give interviews for fear of reprisals (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12796892). Abdulemam was one of the nominees for this year’s Netizen Prize, which Reporters Without Borders awards with support from Google. The prize went to the Tunisian website Nawaat.

Abdeljalil Al-Singace, a blogger who like Abdulemam and 21 other human rights activists and government opponents was detained from September to February, was also reportedly arrested again on 17 March. The head of the pro-democracy and civil liberties movement Al Haq, Singace was previously arrested in 2009 for allegedly trying to destabilise the government because he used his blog (http://alsingace.katib.org) to denounce the deplorable state of civil liberties and discrimination against Bahrain’s Shiite population.

Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was abducted from his home at about 1:30 a.m. yesterday by about 40 individuals who threatened him and beat him before finally releasing him several hours later. Rajab had been giving interviews to international news media about the government’s use of violence to disperse protests and indiscriminate killings by the armed forces (http://bahrainrights.hopto.org/en/node/3825).

CBS journalist Toula Vlahou was travelling in a car with a colleague on 19 March when riot police fired on them using shotgun pellets. Watch the video in which she tried to get an explanation from foreign minister Sheikh Khalid ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpxSPY5ZPCM.
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Filed under Countries 'n Regions, Hall of Shame, People, Protests, Trends

March 6, 2011 · 6:37 pm

US Embassy Yemen on Authorized Voluntary Departure

On March 06, 2011, the State Department issued a new travel warning for Yemen. It also announced the authorized voluntary departure of  family members of U.S. Embassy staff and non-essential personnel from Sana’a.

US Embassy Yemen was a partially unaccompanied post with adults only family members and minors under five in 2009.  Last year, US Embassy Yemen became an adults only EFM post. This means adult family members (21 and older) are permitted to accompany an embassy employee to post with approval from the “M” bureau on a case by case basis.  As I understand it, the approval usually depends on whether or not the adult family member is able to secure a job in the mission.

Excerpts from the announcement: 

The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the high security threat level in Yemen due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.  The Department urges U.S. citizens not to travel to Yemen.  U.S. citizens currently in Yemen should consider departing Yemen.  The Department of State has authorized the voluntary departure from Yemen of the family members of U.S. Embassy staff and non-essential personnel.  This replaces the Travel Warning for Yemen issued October 15, 2010.

Should a crisis occur, evacuation options from Yemen would be extremely limited due to the lack of infrastructure, geographic constraints, and other security concerns outlined below.  The U.S. Embassy’s ability to assist U.S. citizens in the event of a crisis in Yemen is very limited.  In the event of an evacuation, U.S. law requires the Department of State to bill evacuees for U.S.-government arranged transportation. U.S. citizens remaining in Yemen despite this Travel Warning should make their own contingency emergency plans, enroll their presence in Yemen through the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) at http://www.travel.state.gov, and provide their current contact information and next-of-kin or emergency contact information.

The security threat level in Yemen is extremely high due to terrorist activities and civil unrest.  Piracy in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean is also a security threat to maritime activities in the region.  Terrorist organizations continue to be active in Yemen, including Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).  The U.S. government remains concerned about possible attacks against U.S. citizens, facilities, businesses, and perceived U.S. and Western interests.  There is ongoing civil unrest throughout the country and large-scale protests in major cities. See our International Maritime Piracy Fact Sheet at http://www.travel.state.gov.  

Read the whole thing here.

According to publicly available material from the OIG site, the US Embassy Yemen has approximately 170 direct hire American employees. More than half of those employees belong to other agencies. An inspection report from last year notes that “the Ambassador, DCM, OMC commander, and the leaders of the political/economic section are due to rotate before the end of 2010.”  So then, a good number of senior embassy officials currently in Yemen have been at post for less than six months. That includes Ambassador Gerald M. Feierstein (previously DCM at US Embassy Pakistan) who arrived at post in September 2010. I should note that two years previously, a deadly assault on the chancery in September 2008 killed 11 people and disrupted operations at the embassy for months. 

The OIG report also provides an insight on the challenges of a potential evacuation of American citizens from Yemen:

Providing American citizen services in Yemen is exceedingly difficult. As a consequence of generations of immigration to the United States, and the subsequent return of thousands of U.S. citizens, there is a large (at least 55,000) U.S.-Yemeni community. Many of the U.S. citizens have no connection to the United States except their U.S. passport. Indeed, a large number of the Yemeni-Americans reflect local standards of illiteracy and lack of education. This situation, coupled with the pervasive fraud and a complete lack of reliable civil documents, creates a huge challenge for routine passport and citizenship transactions. Because of these challenges, the embassy uses deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing extensively to determine blood relationships.

One complication of the illiteracy and ignorance is that consular clients usually arrive at the embassy missing the required documents. Another complication is that the applicants often cannot show that the U.S. citizen parent has remained in the United States for the requisite five years in order to transmit citizenship to their children. Finally, fraud is a huge issue, as U.S. citizenship is highly valued in Yemen. Fathers can receive up to $50,000 (45 times the per capita Gross Domestic Product) as a bride price for a U.S.-citizen daughter. As a result, parents often claim children as their own who are in fact from other families, in order to fraudulently document the children as U.S. citizens and use them as a potential source of income.

It seems to me that the large number of dual-nationals in both Egypt and Libya did not materialize in the most recent evacuations. If I have my numbers right, the total evacuees for those two countries did not go beyond 3,000. Yemenese-Americans in Yemen may follow the same pattern and opt to shelter in country. But we won’t know that for sure until the evac actually happens.        
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September 29, 2010 · 3:56 am

State Dept’s Helo Fleet Shaping Up with 11 Additional S-61™

A British Sikorsky S-61 helicopter takes off f...Image via WikipediaOn Sept. 20, Sikorsky Aerospace Services announced that the U.S. State Department has ordered 11 additional upgraded S-61™ utility helicopters for use in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sikorsky Aerospace Services (SAS) is the aftermarket division of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).

Earlier this year, the State Department entered into a five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract for up to 110 upgraded S-61 aircraft for passenger and cargo transport missions in support of its worldwide operations. Under the IDIQ agreement, the first four aircraft purchased in February are currently in completion and are scheduled for deployment in Afghanistan this fall.
[...]
“Increasing the U.S. State Department’s current fleet to 15 S-61 aircraft marks a significant milestone for the Sikorsky S-61 program,” added Anthony Serksnas, director, S-61 Programs.

The S-61 helicopter is known as an industry workhorse, and for more than 50 years has reliably and safely performed missions for U.S. and foreign allied militaries. The upgraded S-61 helicopter incorporates key components including composite main rotor blades (CMRB), a state-of-the-art glass cockpit and modular wiring harness – all of which dramatically improve aircraft supportability. Additional features have been incorporated to reduce pilot fatigue and maintenance requirements for increased safety.

An open IDIQ purchase agreement serves as the contracting vehicle for any U.S. Government agency to purchase upgraded S-61 aircraft. The first delivery of the 11 upgraded S-61 helicopters for Iraq and Afghanistan is scheduled to occur in mid-2011.

Read the announcement here.









Related post:
State Dept’s New Helo Fleet: Up to 110 S-61 Sikorskys for Worldwide Operation | February 23, 2010

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September 24, 2010 · 4:09 am

States of Conflict in I’Af/Pak: By the Numbers

President Barack Obama (center) with Afghan Pr...Image via WikipediaBrookings recently released an interesting set of numbers on our priority posts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  See States Of Conflict: An Update on Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan

Trends in Iraq

Iraqi Civilian Deaths from War:
Aug. 2008: 450;
Aug. 2009: 300;
Aug. 2010: 400

Iraqi Security Force Deaths:
Aug. 2008: 80;
Aug. 2009: 40;
Aug. 2010: 80

U.S. Troop Deaths:
Aug. 2008: 23;
Aug. 2009: 7;
Aug. 2010: 3

U.S. Troops in Iraq (in thousands):
Aug. 2008: 148;
Aug. 2009: 130;
Aug. 2010: 50

Iraqi Security Forces (in thousands):
Aug. 2008: 515;
Aug. 2009: 650;
Aug. 2010: 670

Oil Production (in millions of barrels per day):
Aug. 2008: 2.5;
Aug. 2009: 2.5;
Aug. 2010: 2.3

Electricity Production (average megawatts, official grid; prewar: 4,000):
Aug. 2008: 4,000;
Aug. 2009: 6,500;
Aug. 2010: 6,400

Telephone Subscribers (in millions):
Aug. 2008: 14;
Aug. 2009: 20;
Aug. 2010: 21

Trends in Afghanistan

U.S./Total Foreign Troops (in thousands):
Aug. 2008: 31/61;
Aug. 2009: 62/97;
Aug. 2010: 100/141

Afghan Army/Police Forces (in thousands):
Aug. 2008: 79/80;
Aug. 2009: 100/85;
Aug. 2010: 134/109

U.S. Government Civilians:
Aug. 2008: 274;
Aug. 2009: 624;
Aug. 2010: 1,005

U.S./Total NATO Coalition Deaths:
Aug. 2008: 22/46;
Aug. 2009: 51/77;
Aug. 2010: 55/79

Afghan Civilian Deaths from War:
Aug. 2008: 65;
Aug. 2009: 230;
Aug. 2010: 150

Afghanistan’s Global Rank for Corruption (out of 180 nations; prior year data; source: Transparency International);
Aug. 2008: 172;
Aug. 2009: 176;
Aug. 2010: 179

G.D.P. Growth (annual percentage):
Aug. 2008: 9;
Aug. 2009: 13;
Aug. 2010: 16

Monthly Pay for New Afghan Soldier (in dollars; includes combat pay):
Aug. 2008: 100;
Aug. 2009: 110;
Aug. 2010: 250

Monthly Pay for Afghan Prosecutor (in dollars):
Aug. 2008: 80;
Aug. 2009: 85;
Aug. 2010: 86

Trends in Pakistan
Attacks by Insurgents:
Aug. 2008: 312;
Aug. 2009: 226;
Aug. 2010: 194

Pakistani Forces Involved in Counterinsurgency (2010 figures reduced because of flood relief operations):
Aug. 2008: 120,000;
Aug. 2009: 150,000;
Aug. 2010: 100,000

Militant Deaths from U.S. Drone attacks (monthly average);
Aug. 2008: 10;
Aug. 2009: 30;
Aug. 2010: 45

U.S. Aid to Pakistan (in billions of dollars per year);
Aug. 2008: 2.0;
Aug. 2009: 3.0;
Aug. 2010: 3.6

Popularity of President Asif Ali Zardari (percentage of Pakistanis expressing approval; spring data):
Aug. 2008: 64;
Aug. 2009: 32;
Aug. 2010: 20

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