Service to America Medals Finalists

Name: Ambassador Prudence Bushnell

Position: Dean, Leadership and Management School

Agency: Department of State, Foreign Service Institute

Location: Washington, DC

Residence: Falls Church, VA

Achievement: Guided U.S. Embassy in Kenya through the 1998 bombing and was a leading voice in the U.S. government urging a response to the ethnic genocide in Rwanda.

President Kennedy once said, "Great crises produce great men and great acts of courage." Ambassador Prudence Bushnell has proven that they produce great women too. She has seen up close the kind of horrific events that few of us could ever imagine. As the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya when the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi was bombed, and having spent time in Rwanda as U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs just before the genocide began, Bushnell has been on the frontlines of U.S. international policy throughout her 23 years in the federal government. And no matter what the challenge, she responded to each crisis with remarkable courage, resolve and dexterity.

Some would say Prudence Bushnell has been serving her country for all her life. The daughter of an American diplomat, she grew up in Germany, France, Pakistan and Iran. Circumstances took her around the world. It was a life that clearly made a favorable impression on her, as she eventually chose a career with the Foreign Service.

That career decision carried Bushnell across the Atlantic. As the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Bushnell was responsible for monitoring the unrest in Rwanda in 1993 and 1994. She traveled to Rwanda in March of that year - just before the genocide began - and met with decision-makers, opposition leaders and human rights officers there. Having seen firsthand the weakening security in Rwanda and meeting Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, who was later assassinated, Bushnell brought those realities to her negotiations back in Washington. In fact, as one of the loudest and most compelling voices in Washington speaking out against the genocide, Bushnell's commitment and personal integrity is lauded by colleagues and others. More than one of her colleagues revealed Bushnell's habit of calling Hutu organizers in the wee hours of the morning -- to literally decry the massacring of the Tutsis.

Not long after her experience in Rwanda, Bushnell became the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya. In 1998 - two years into her tenure there - the embassy in Nairobi was one of two East African embassies that were attacked by Al Qaeda operatives. In a post-9/11 world, it can be difficult to remember the dramatic impact of such an attack on an American post, but the Kenyan and Tanzanian bombings were major blows. Led by Ambassador Bushnell, the embassy's staff stayed on after the bombing to cope with the aftermath. Embassy work had to continue and did so as soon as the next day, while the staff rebuilt the embassy, took care of its injured and mourned the deaths of friends. A model of strength and stability, Bushnell's skill for leading her distressed staff did not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

Today, Bushnell serves as the dean of the Leadership and Management School at the Foreign Service Institute, Department of State. Her endless innovations and commitment to strong leadership make the post a perfect fit, as she continues to find ways to improve a government she loves and in which she wholeheartedly believes.

Name: Ranjeet Singh

Position: Program Analyst

Agency: Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

Location: Kabul, Afghanistan

Residence: Washington, DC

Achievement: Developed expertise on Afghanistan's ethnic groups, geography and economy which has made her the State Department's leading expert in formulating U.S. policy to deal with opium poppy cultivation and narcotics trafficking in that country.

In the era of globalization, where actions on the other side of the globe impact economic and security conditions here at home, our nation needs new generations of Americans who have an interest in and understanding of foreign cultures and our interconnectedness with these other nations. What our nation needs are more people like Ranjeet Singh.

Singh, 33, was awarded a National Security Education Program Graduate Fellowship in 1999, which she used to research Indo-Pakistan relations, travel to the region, study Hindi, and write her thesis on the Kashmir conflict. Her knowledge of the region, and in particular Afghanistan's ethnic groups, geography, culture and economy have made her the State Department's recognized expert in formulating U.S. policy to deal with the challenge of opium poppy cultivation and narcotics trafficking in that country.

Her job is one of the most difficult and critical in all of Afghanistan.

For the past decade, opium poppy has been Afghanistan's largest and most valuable cash crop. Since Operation Enduring Freedom toppled the Taliban in 2002, Afghanistan has re-emerged as the world's leading supplier of illicit opium, morphine and heroin, producing an estimated 75 percent of the world-wide supply of heroin.

The International Monetary Fund also estimates that the opium trade makes up roughly 50 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product, with approximately $1 billion going annually to growers and $1.3 billion going to traffickers. Profits from this drug trade are being used to support Taliban remnants, al-Qaeda and other terrorist elements.

As the United States planned its reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, Singh pushed strongly for a strong response to the problem of opium poppy production. Clearly, the United States cannot allow this drug trade to continue to flourish. But the critical role that it plays to Afghanistan's economy makes cracking down on this criminal activity more complicated than most U.S. counter-drug initiatives, and it requires not only a law enforcement, but a diplomatic response. That is exactly the type of response that Singh has helped to develop.

Since September 2001, Singh has worked with U.S. government agencies, non-governmental organizations, the United Nations and the United Kingdom to develop and implement millions of dollars of assistance programs in the areas of narcotics law enforcement, alternative development, drug demand reduction and anti-drug public affairs. These programs have aimed to help Afghan farmers grow and market alternative crops, win public support for a ban on opium poppy cultivation, and to open a treatment center for addicts.