The Diplomatic Courier Service: America's Couriers to the World

The Diplomatic Courier Service ensures the secure movement of classified U.S. Government material across international boundaries. More than papers and files, diplomatic pouches may contain thousands of pounds of equipment and construction materials bound for sensitive posts. The courier service serves the foreign affairs community by providing regularly scheduled classified delivery to over 190 Foreign Service missions. The nearly $25 million program consists of a headquarters office within the Bureau of Diplomatic Security; three regional divisions in Bangkok, Frankfurt, and Miami; supplemented by regional hubs at Dakar/Abidjan, Helsinki, Manama, Pretoria, and Seoul. During fiscal year 2003, the Courier Service delivered over 3.5 million pounds of classified and 2 millions of controlled material.

In additon to regularly scheduled trips via commerical aircraft, 16 special State Department military support flights go to South America, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, Europe, and the Commonwealth Independent States (formerly known as the Soviet Union) each year. These flights transport heavy, oversize pouch material that cannot be onto a commerical aircraft.

Sensitive, but unclassified controlled materials, are also transported by the Diplomatic Courier Service. For example, the Courier Service is presently coordinating overland and sea shipments with the Office of Overseas Buildings Operation for secure movement of materials to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and will shortly begin escorting shipments via sea from the West Coast to Tianjin, China, for the construction of a new office building in Beijing, China. These projects, as well as future building contruction projects planned for China, further define the flexibility and resourcefulness of the Diplomatic Courier Service.