New, Fortified Consulate Balances Safety, Diplomacy

Reprinted with permission of the FEDERAL TIMES

BY STEPHEN LOSEY
April 25, 2005

The new U.S. consulate in Istanbul has been called a place so secure "they don't let birds fly."

That, according to The New York Times, was the assessment of a suspected terrorist captured by the Turkish police after the Nov. 20, 2003, car bombings of the British consulate and the London-based HSBC bank in the Turkish capital.

Those attacks wounded hundreds and killed 32 people--including Britain's consul general.

But the suspected terrorist captured in Turkey reportedly told police his cell's preferred target was the U.S. consulate. And if the State Department had not opened a new, highly secure consulate just five months earlier, the terror cell likely would have killed many Americans.

That, says American consul general David Arnett, is why the $83 million spent on the new consulate is worth every penny.

The State Department is not stopping in Istanbul. About 180 of the 250 embassies and consulates around the world were deemed vulnerable after al Qaida bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the department wants to replace most of them.

Greg Starr, the deputy assistant secretary for State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, said nine buildings, including the Istanbul consulate, are finished, three more are almost done, and about 40 more are under construction or under contract to be built.

Starr expects the embassy and consulate construction project - the largest in State's history - will be done by 2020 at a cost of $17.5 billion.

The new facilities will correct the weaknesses that leave older U.S. facilities susceptible to attack, Starr said. State now requires buildings to have protective walls that are at least 100 feet away from embassies and consulates. Those walls and barriers also must protect against explosions and ramming attacks from vehicles, and they must be difficult to climb. Guard booths are placed at the perimeter of facilities, and windows and doors are bulletproof and resist forced entries.

The new buildings are also strong enough to resist most earthquakes and bombs, Starr said.

Changes in Istanbul
The old Istanbul consulate, built in 1882 and bought by State 25 years later, was typical of many of those buildings with weaknesses.

"The old consulate, though replete with history, tradition, and located in a fascinating part of the city, couldn't be protected," Arnett said in a Feb. 15 telephone interview with Federal Times.

The consulate, known as Palazzo Corpi, was located in the heart of Istanbul. It was bordered on three sides by narrow streets, two of which were blocked off after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. There was little distance, or setback, between the remaining road and the consulate to protect against car bombs.

Palazzo Corpi was surrounded on all sides by taller buildings, including some hotels. Arnett said the consulate worried that terrorists could use higher rooms as a sniper's perch, so he made arrangements with the hotels to be careful about who rented upper-floor rooms.

Arnett said the building would not have been safe in the event of a major earthquake and could not have been strengthened without large amounts of money.

And Palazzo Corpi had already been the target of three unsuccessful rocket attacks in the 1990s, Arnett said.

So the State Department in June 2003 opened a new facility in an outlying district of Istanbul called Istinye, about 12 miles away from the center of the city. The new 22-acre facility--nearly 15 times as big as the old consulate--was built on a solid rock hill and used the latest quake-proof construction techniques, Arnett said.

Arnett said the new consulate's fortified walls provide more setback than the department requires, sometimes stretching as far as 300 feet from the building.

Visitors go through a security check area built into the main wall, though VIP guests such as religious and political leaders are driven up to the building and go through the front door, Arnett said.

And the new consulate holds the high ground in the area. Though there are some nearby buildings, none is taller than the consulate. This reduces the opportunity for potential snipers to target visitors, officials or employees, Arnett said.

Visitors waiting in line for a visa to the United States now have a roofed area to protect them from rain and potential attackers, Arnett said.

"We think the OBO [State's Bureau of Overseas Building Operations] and the contractors they hired did a very good job here," Arnett said. "It's attractive and warm on the inside and solid and strong-appearing on the outside."

Open to Diplomacy
But finding the proper balance between safety and the openness that is needed for diplomacy "is the million-dollar question," Starr said.

Individual embassies and consulates sometimes bring in thousands of foreign visitors each week for visas. They also provide passports or other help for Americans abroad and host foreign companies to stimulate business opportunities.

"It's certainly a challenge, but we're not building bunkers or military bases," Starr said. "We can't just wall ourselves off from the rest of the world, because that's not what diplomacy is about."

Arnett said the new Istanbul consulate has not greatly changed his job. He still goes into Istanbul to represent the United States at events, but the consulate's new location outside of town adds roughly five to 15 minutes to his driving time.

He said about 250 people visit the consulate each day for visas--roughly the same as before. He said the new consulate has a larger waiting room with comfortable chairs and more windows to handle visa applicants.

John Limbert, president of the American Foreign Service Association and a former ambassador to Mauritania, said the increased security does not hurt Foreign Service Officers' ability to do their jobs and represent the United States. However, they may have to do their jobs somewhat differently.

That could mean meeting people outside of the embassy more often or delegating some tasks to indigenous employees who know the area well. Foreign Service Officers also may use Internet tools such as e-mail and online messaging more often instead of face-to-face meetings, Limbert said.

"You have to be more creative," he said. "People are less willing to come to you. You have to take the first step yourself."

And embassies must not make security so cumbersome that visitors will not want to return, Limbert said.

For instance, he said that when he was ambassador to Mauritania, visitors to his residence inside the embassy compound were treated like guests at the embassy gates.

Limbert would not say if he thinks State should do more to secure embassies and consulates, but he said AFSA will push to keep embassy security at the top of the department's agenda.

"There's no such thing as 100 percent risk-free," Limbert said. "All we ask is the department take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of people overseas."

SECURITY  MEASURES
The State Department has five criteria by which it judges its embassies and consulates secure. They must have:

• At least 100 feet between office facilities and the exterior of the compound
  
• Perimeter walls, fencing or both
  
• Barriers that can resist a ramming attack from a vehicle
  
• Blast-resistant construction techniques and materials
  
• Access points where guards can screen visitors and vehicles

SOURCE: Government Accountability Office