September 11, 2001 left an indelible mark on American history when nineteen members of al Qaeda carried out the deadliest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. After hijacking four planes, the terrorists flew two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, while a third struck the Pentagon, killing more than two thousand… Read More "“It wasn’t supposed to happen here” — 9/11, Before and After"
“A Recipe for Endless War” – The Rise of the Taliban
After conquering Kabul in April 1996, the Taliban established the ultra-conservative Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, enforcing a radical interpretation of Islamic law which severely curtailed individual social and religious freedoms, especially for women. Because of its radical policies, its massive violation of human rights, and abysmal failure to provide basic governmental services, the Taliban were… Read More "“A Recipe for Endless War” – The Rise of the Taliban"
PTSD in the Foreign Service — The Embassy Beirut Bombing
In an unprecedented suicide attack on Americans, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was bombed on April 18, 1983. The tragedy has been called the first terrorist attack by religious radicals on an American embassy. Seventeen Americans, including Foreign Service Officers and USAID workers, were killed in the blast while sixty-seven of their colleagues survived. In…
Top Ten Things You Learn From a Hostage Situation
Sometimes it just ain’t easy working for the State Department. If you go through the lengthy history of the Foreign Service in the second half of the 20th Century, there are a surprising number of diplomats who have been held hostage. And while the situations and political context are very different, certain things do stand out.…
Death of an FSO, As Remembered by His Widow
Dennis Keogh had been Political Counselor in South Africa from 1980-83 and made 25 trips to Namibia. In the spring of 1984, he agreed to serve for a month as head of the new U.S. Liaison Office (USLO) in Windhoek. In that troubled region, which South Africa had administered since World War I without a… Read More "Death of an FSO, As Remembered by His Widow"
“The First Terrorist Attack in the U.S.” – The Letelier-Moffitt Assassinations
After Augusto Pinochet led a coup d’état in Chile on September 11, 1973, taking power from the democratically elected President Salvador Allende, he exiled Allende’s Foreign Minister, Orlando Letelier. After Letelier sought asylum in the United States, Pinochet believed he was acting as an informant to the U.S. government. Consequently, he was targeted by the Pinochet… Read More "“The First Terrorist Attack in the U.S.” – The Letelier-Moffitt Assassinations"
The Lockerbie Bombing and Its Aftermath
On December 21, 1988, Pan American flight 103 flying from London Heathrow to JFK Airport in New York exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270, including 11 people on the ground. Following a three-year investigation, murder warrants were issued in November 1991 for two Libyans. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi eventually handed them over for trial in 1999… Read More "The Lockerbie Bombing and Its Aftermath"
The Dramatic Hostage Crisis and Daring Rescue at the Japanese Embassy in Peru
It sounds like something out of a novel: a group of rebels, helped by an American, seize an embassy in a South American country and hold dozens of people hostage for more than four months. Indeed, the Japanese Embassy hostage crisis inspired the 2001 best-selling novel Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, winner of the PEN/Faulkner… Read More "The Dramatic Hostage Crisis and Daring Rescue at the Japanese Embassy in Peru"
Life at Embassy Tokyo After Pearl Harbor
Despite getting extremely close to agreeing to negotiations to avert hostilities, the U.S. and Japan failed to make peace and Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7th, 1941. In these excerpts from his memoirs, Robert A. Fearey, at the time private secretary to Ambassador to Japan Joseph C. Grew, describes the surprisingly pleasant conditions of daily… Read More "Life at Embassy Tokyo After Pearl Harbor"
The Burning of the JFK Library in Cairo — Thanksgiving Day, 1964
On November 28, 1964 — Thanksgiving Day — several hundred students from the Congo and elsewhere set fire to the newly christened John F. Kennedy Library, completely burning it to the ground. The Congo had been in a state of chaos after being granted independence from Belgium in 1960. After the Soviets intervened on behalf… Read More "The Burning of the JFK Library in Cairo — Thanksgiving Day, 1964"