DATE=11/5/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-S / EMBASSIES INSECURE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255870
BYLINE=KYLE KING
DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
TEXT: An independent advisory committee says U-S
Embassies around the world are close to the point of
system failure. The panel says communications and
staffing problems could cripple the nation's foreign
policy. VOA's Kyle King has this report from the
State Department.
TEXT: The harsh independent review of the U-S foreign
policy apparatus found that many embassies around the
world had not kept up with modern demands.
The report says U-S embassy staff in Ukraine and
Angola have been forced to operate out of trailers
because of inadequate space.
The Chairman of the Panel, New York corporate lawyer
Lewis Kaden, says many U-S diplomats are not even able
to send common e-mail messages to each other.
/// Kaden act ///
It is a disgrace, and the report says this in no
uncertain terms, that our personnel representing
30 agencies can not communicate, either with
each other, or with other posts around the
world, or with the government back in
Washington, the way my organization or your
organizations take for granted.
/// end act ///
The Panel of business and non-government experts
recommends 200 million dollars should be spent to
improve information technology and the condition of
buildings.
But Mr. Kaden cautions, new technology can not replace
what he calls face to face diplomacy.
/// Kaden Act ///
Today diplomacy means interacting on the ground
in an active, aggressive way with groups or
individuals in civil society as well as
throughout the government, attacking an array of
problems on the foreign policy agenda.
/// end act ///
The panel, which visited 23 U-S diplomatic posts, says
some are overstaffed and should be cut back, while
others in important developing countries need more
people.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright established the
Panel, partly in response to the U-S Embassy bombings
in Kenya and Tanzania last year.
The Panel agreed with earlier recommendations that
more than one-billion dollars a year be spent on
embassy security each year for the next ten years.
But in its report the Panel cautioned against turning
embassies into fortresses. The report says in
addition to new communications technology, more must
be done to rethink the size of embassies and how they
function. (Signed)
NEB/KBK/ENE/PT
05-Nov-1999 16:37 PM EDT (05-Nov-1999 2137 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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