There apparently has been a lot of confusion about how embassy
security works. In her Friday press briefing, Victoria Nuland gave a
brief explanation. Given that she was speaking to the State Department
press corps which accompanies the Secretary of State on her journeys
and therefore has visited the embassies she visits (as she never fails
to do in any country that hosts her), it seems reasonable that if they
required this explanation, it might be instructive information for
those who have not visited our embassies and consulates the world over.
Here is what she said.
Victoria Nuland
Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
September 14, 2012
QUESTION:
Two other quick things and very specific items: First, at any time over
the course of this calendar year, has the State Department received and
rejected an offer for enhanced security from another government – U.S.
Government agency in Libya?
MS. NULAND: To my
knowledge, no, and it doesn’t work that way anyway. So let me just take a
minute and remind all of you how security works as a general matter at
our – at embassies and missions around the world, as provided under the
Vienna Convention, which all diplomatic missions – not just American –
but all around the world work under.
Under the Vienna Convention,
the primary responsibility for the protection of U.S. diplomatic
personnel and facilities abroad rests with the government of those
countries. So anywhere you are in the world, the external security
outside of the hard line of any embassy, any consulate, any mission, is
the responsibility of the host government. We work with the host
governments to assess what they are providing. We are the ones that
generally go and ask for more when we assess that we need it. We train
them. We work with them.
And then on top of that, of course, it is
the responsibility of the U.S. Government to ensure that we have
physical features that protect our missions. We’re talking about setback
and buffer zones, fences, walls, access control, screening, doors,
windows, all those kinds of things, cameras, lighting. And then inside
that hard line that we have erected, so external – think about rings –
external security host government, then the physical barriers, and then
inside we protect our missions a variety of ways. We have regional
security officers of the State Department. We have occasionally this –
these kind of contracted security. We have the Marine guard force. The
Marine guard force, I would note, is primarily responsible for the
protection of classified information.
So that is the way this works.
You can access the
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 here. The security Ms. Nuland refers to can be found in Articles 22 and 30.
