Via Burn Bag:
“Only Diplomatic Security (DS) would take somebody with no prior law enforcement or military background and send him to one of the most isolated and dangerous posts in the world for his first overseas assignment and expect FSOs to have blind trust in his competence and judgement. But he graduated from DS’s “rigorous” high threat training course in West Virginia, you say. Right. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
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I’d need more facts (such as the post and how many DS agents are assigned there) to comment fully on the assertion that sending the agent to “one of the most isolated and dangerous posts in the world” was actually not appropriate. Unless this is a TDY, the agent does have law enforcement experience since DS does not send agents directly overseas. At a minimum, they are all initially assigned to a field office, typically for 2 or 3 years.
DS Agent high threat training, however, is intense and very rigorous. 10 weeks of training culminating in a three day capstone exercise. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/after-benghazi-learning-to-defend-us-consulates-through-more-intensive-training/2014/06/06/c7feca9a-eb3f-11e3-b98c-72cef4a00499_story.html
Thanks for the comment, Chris. By design, Burn Bag entries are sent anonymously, so there is no way to ask for additional information. The folks upstairs who are in the know, probably can narrow down posts that qualify as “one of the most isolated and dangerous posts in the world” and if they so desire, should be able to address the FSOs concerns.