DIPLOMATIC SECURITY

Worldwide Security Upgrades- The recommendation includes a total of $594,373,000 for Worldwide Security Upgrades. The Committee recommendations are displayed in the following table:

WORLDWIDE SECURITY UPGRADES

[In thousands of dollars]

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                                                                       Committee recommendation 

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Ongoing Security Activities:                                                                    

Additional Consular Officers                                                             22,572 

Guards/Worldwide Protection                                                             137,046 

Physical Security Equipment                                                              18,912 

Technical Support/Infrastructure                                                         68,932 

Information/Systems Security                                                             51,825 

Armored Vehicles                                                                         10,536 

Personnel/Training                                                                      119,780 

Chemical/Biological Program                                                               4,057 

Radio Program                                                                             7,413 

Perimeter Security Enhancements                                                          70,000 

TOPOFF II                                                                                 3,000 

Subtotal, Ongoing Security Activities                                                   514,073 

New Programs:                                                                                   

Secure Operations                                                                        52,000 

National Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process                   28,300 

Subtotal, New Programs                                                                   80,300 

Subtotal, Worldwide Security Upgrades                                                   594,373 

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Some of the Committee recommendations displayed in the table are described in more detail in the following paragraphs.

Marine Security Guard [MSG] Program.--During the 19th century, the United States Navy was frequently called upon to protect American lives and property in remote parts of the world. Marine detachments took part in these operations and, on occasion, were called upon to protect U.S. diplomatic missions. The first such instance took place in 1835, when four marines from the U.S.S. Brandywine were assigned to protect the U.S. Consulate in Lima, Peru. The followng year, a single Marine was permanently detailed to this task. Following this, legation guard detachments were stationed at various times in Tokyo, Seoul, and Managua. Over time, it became clear that civilian guards were unable to maintain adequate security at overseas missions, and the Department accordingly turned to the United States Armed Forces. Finally, on December 15, 1948, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Navy signed a memorandum of agreement which established the present Marine Security Guard program. Today Marines are assigned to Foreign Service posts throughout the world.

After that, the mission of the Marine Security Guard [MSG] detachments assigned to U.S. diplomatic facilities evolved from one of protecting people to one of protecting information. The reasons why this evolution was necessary have, in recent years, been overcome by technologies that assure the integrity of sensitive information. Terrorists have proven their ability to plan and execute sophisticated attacks such as those carried out in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya in 1998, New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania in 2001, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2003. In this new global security environment, the primary mission of MSG detachments must be to protect embassy personnel. The Committee commends the Department for its efforts to revise its Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Defense as it pertains to the mission of Marine Corps personnel assigned to U.S. diplomatic posts.

Growth and Planning.--The Department's security program has grown exponentially over the last 6 years. Since 1999, the Committee has made $3,132,600,000 available to the Department for non-capital security alone. Also in that time, the number of Diplomatic Security agents employed by the Department increased by nearly 73 percent, from 782 to 1,350 personnel. While some growth was necessary in order for the Department to respond to the emerging threat of terrorism, growth in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security [DS] followed no pre-developed model or plan. Until recently, the Bureau made staffing and resource decisions without the benefit of a comprehensive strategy. The absence of a strategy made it impossible for the Committee to make informed funding decisions about the Department's security requirements. The Committee commends the Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security for recognizing this serious deficiency and for his efforts to build a staffing model that will allow DS to become the kind of robust, efficient, and dynamic security operation the Department needs. The Committee received a draft strategy on June 16, 2003, and is in the process of reviewing it.

The Department's request for Worldwide Security Upgrades for fiscal year 2004 is $97,296,000 above the fiscal year 2003 funding level. Providing such a substantial increase and locking these funds into specific categories in the midst of the Assistant Secretary's top-to-bottom review would serve neither the Department nor the American taxpayers. The recommendation therefore includes the fiscal year 2003 level for ongoing security activities (with the exception of perimeter security enhancements, which is addressed in a separate section below) plus $52,000,000 for the Center for Antiterrorism and Security Training, as requested by the Department in fiscal year 2003, and $28,300,000 to establish a program for compliance with the National Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation process requirements. The Committee would entertain a reprogramming request, a supplemental request, or a combination of the two to provide for any needs that may be identified in the course of this internal review.

TOPOFF III- The Committee commends the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism for its performance in the Top Officials II [TOPOFF II] national domestic counterterrorism exercise series. The Department of State, working in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, contributed to the design, development, conduct, and evaluation of this exercise. TOPOFF II was a two-year effort which included a series of national exercise activities and culminated in a full-scale, no-notice exercise in May of 2003, in Seattle, Washington, Chicago, Illinois, and in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This is the first exercise of its size conducted by the United States in cooperation with another country. The Committee urges the Secretary of State to consider inviting Mexico to participate in TOPOFF III. Within the funds made available for Worldwide Security Upgrades, $3,000,000 is for the Department's continued participation in the TOPOFF exercise series.

Border Security- The recommendation includes $736,000,000, the full amount requested, for the Department's border security program. The border security program, funded from Machine Readable Visa [MRV] fees paid by persons seeking non-immigrant visas to the United States, is a critical component of the Department's efforts to assist and protect United States citizens overseas and safeguard the nation's borders. Disruption of the border security program due to an MRV fee shortfall must be avoided at all costs. The recommendation therefore includes language providing for the automatic transfer of funding from the Diplomatic and Consular Programs account to the account that funds the Department's Border Security Program in the event of continued MRV fee shortfalls in fiscal year 2004.

Security Enhancements- At this time of heightened threat to American posts abroad, the benefits of the security enhancement funds the Committee has provided to the Department since the Dar Es Salaam and Nairobi bombings in 1998 are being realized. Continual security upgrades to existing properties are as important as the Department's security construction program. Accordingly, the Committee recommendation includes $26,600,000 above the request for perimeter security enhancements under Worldwide Security Upgrades.

Office of Foreign Missions- The Committee continues to believe that the Office of Foreign Missions [OFM] would be more appropriately aligned with other management functions within the Department, rather than with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security [DS]. The Committee therefore directs that OFM be moved out of DS and placed under the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources [M].