II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 679

To authorize appropriations to the Department of State for construction

and security of United States diplomatic facilities, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 23, 1999

Mr. GRAMS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To authorize appropriations to the Department of State for

construction and security of United States diplomatic

facilities, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure Embassy Con5 struction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) On August 17, 1998, two United States em9 bassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and in Dar Es Salaam,

10 Tanzania, were destroyed by simultaneously explod-
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1 ing bombs. The resulting explosions killed 220 per2 sons and injured more than 4,000 others. Twelve

3 Americans and 40 Kenyan and Tanzanian employees

4 of the United States Foreign Service were killed in

5 the attack.

6 (2) The United States personnel in both Dar

7 Es Salaam and Nairobi showed leadership and per8 sonal courage in their response to the attacks. De9 spite the havoc wrecked upon the embassies, staff in

10 both embassies provided rapid response in locating

11 and rescuing victims, providing emergency assist12 ance, and quickly restoring embassy operations dur13 ing a crisis.

14 (3) The bombs are believed to have been set by

15 individuals associated with Osama bin Laden, leader

16 of a known transnational terrorist organization. In

17 February of 1998 Bin Laden issued a directive to

18 his followers that called for attacks against Amer19 ican interests anywhere in the world.

20 (4) Following the bombings, additional threats

21 have been made against United States diplomatic fa22 cilities.

23 (5) A review board was convened following the

24 bombings, as required by Public Law 99–399. The
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1 panel was chaired by Admiral William J. Crowe,

2 United States Navy (Ret).

3 (6) The conclusions of the Crowe panel are

4 strikingly similar to those stated by the Inman Com5 mission, which issued an extensive embassy security

6 report more than 14 years ago.

7 (7) Admiral Crowe’s panel issued a report set8 ting out the following two striking problems:

9 (A) The United States has devoted inad10 equate resources towards security against ter11 rorist attacks.

12 (B) The United States Government places

13 too low a priority on security concerns. The re14 sult has been a failure to take adequate steps

15 to prevent tragedies such as the bombings in

16 Kenya and Tanzania.

17 (8) The Crowe panel found that there was an

18 institutional failure on the part of the Department

19 of State and embassies under its direction, to recog20 nize threats posed by transnational terrorism and

21 vehicular bombs.

22 (9) Responsibility for obtaining adequate re23 sources for security programs is widely shared

24 throughout the United States Government, including

25 Congress. Unless the vulnerabilities identified in the
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1 Crowe report are addressed in a sustained and fi2 nancially realistic manner, the lives and safety of

3 United States employees in diplomatic facilities will

4 continue to be at risk from further terrorist attacks.

5 (10) Although service in the Foreign Service or

6 other Government positions in foreign countries can

7 never be completely without risk, the United States

8 must ensure that the risks are kept to a minimum.

9 SEC. 3. UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC FACILITY DEFINED.

10 In this Act, the term ‘‘United States diplomatic facil11 ity’’ means any embassy, chancery, legation, consulate or

12 other office building or structure used by a United States

13 diplomatic mission or consular post or by any agency of

14 the United States.

15 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of State may use

17 funds available under the account established in sub18 section (b) for the purposes of constructing, or providing

19 security upgrades to, United States diplomatic facilities in

20 order to meet the security requirements set forth in sec21 tion 6.

22 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF ACCOUNT.—There is estab23 lished in the general fund of the Treasury of the United

24 States an appropriations account for the Department of
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1 State which shall be known as the ‘‘EMBASSY CONSTRUC2 TION AND SECURITY’’ account.

3 (c) CERTIFICATION.—Prior to obligation of any

4 amount from the EMBASSY CONSTRUCTION AND SECU5 RITY account, the Secretary of State shall certify to Con6 gress, in classified form, that construction or upgrading

7 of the United States diplomatic facility is necessary to

8 bring the United States into compliance with all applicable

9 security requirements, including those requirements set

10 forth in section 6.

11 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be

13 appropriated to the Department of State under

14 ‘‘EMBASSY CONSTRUCTION AND SECURITY’’—

15 (A) for fiscal year 2000, $600,000,000;

16 (B) for fiscal year 2001, $600,000,000;

17 (C) for fiscal year 2002, $600,000,000;

18 (D) for fiscal year 2003, $600,000,000;

19 and

20 (E) for fiscal year 2004, $600,000,000.

21 (2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro22 priated pursuant to paragraph (1) are authorized to

23 remain available until expended.
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1 SEC. 5. OBLIGATION OF FUNDS.

2 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date

3 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall sub4 mit a classified report to Congress containing an identi5 fication of those United States diplomatic facilities that

6 are most vulnerable to terrorist attack and setting out,

7 in tiers of 20, those facilities from the most to the least

8 vulnerable to such an attack.

9 (b) PRIORITY OF REBUILDING EFFORTS.—Funds in

10 the EMBASSY CONSTRUCTION AND SECURITY account al11 located for construction of new embassies shall be used

12 to rebuild only those embassies in the top three tiers, as

13 designated by the Secretary of State.

14 (c) ADVANCED CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATIONS.—

15 Prior to obligation of funds in the EMBASSY CONSTRUC16 TION AND SECURITY account, or the reprogramming of

17 funds out of that account, the Secretary of State shall no18 tify the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and

19 the Committee on International Relations of the House

20 of Representatives in accordance with section 34(a) of the

21 State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22

22 U.S.C. 2706(a)), of the Secretary’s intent to obligate or

23 reprogram the funds, as the case may be.
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1 SEC. 6. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FOR UNITED STATES

2 DIPLOMATIC FACILITIES.

3 (a) DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENTS.—The fol4 lowing security requirements shall apply with respect to

5 United States diplomatic facilities:

6 (1) THREAT ASSESSMENTS.—

7 (A) The Emergency Action Plan (EAP) of

8 each United States mission shall address

9 threats from large vehicular bombs and

10 transnational terrorism.

11 (B) The ‘‘Composite Threat List’’ shall

12 contain a section that addresses acts of inter13 national terrorism against United States diplo14 matic facilities based on criteria for identifying

15 threats that emphasize the threat of

16 transnational terrorism and includes such other

17 criteria as the physical security environment,

18 host government support, and cultural realities.

19 (2) SITE SELECTION.—

20 (A) In selecting sites for new United

21 States diplomatic facilities abroad, all United

22 States Government agencies (except military in23 stallations) shall be located on the same com24 pound.

25 (B) The Secretary of State and the rel26 evant agency head may waive subparagraph (A)
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1 if the Secretary and the agency head jointly

2 certify to Congress that security requirements

3 so permit.

4 (C) Any waiver under this paragraph shall

5 be exercised only in accordance with the proce6 dures applicable to reprogramming notifications

7 under section 34 of the State Department Basic

8 Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2706).

9 (3) PERIMETER DISTANCE.—Each newly con10 structed or acquired United States diplomatic facil11 ity shall be sited not less than 100 feet from the pe12 rimeter of the property on which the facility is situ13 ated.

14 (4) CRISIS MANAGEMENT TRAINING.—

15 (A) The appropriate personnel of the De16 partment of State shall undertake crisis man17 agement training for mass casualty and mass

18 destruction incidents relating to diplomatic fa19 cilities which are designed to bring about a

20 rapid response to such incidents from Depart21 ment of State headquarters in Washington,

22 D.C.

23 (B) A program of appropriate instruction

24 in crisis management shall be provided to per-
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1 sonnel at United States diplomatic facilities

2 abroad.

3 (5) FOREIGN EMERGENCY SUPPORT TEAM.—

4 The Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST) of

5 the Department of State shall receive sufficient sup6 port from the Department, including—

7 (A) conducting routine training exercises

8 through the FEST;

9 (B) providing personnel identified to serve

10 on the FEST as a collateral duty;

11 (C) providing personnel to assist in med12 ical relief, public affairs, engineering, and build13 ing safety; and

14 (D) providing such additional support as

15 may be necessary to enable the FEST to pro16 vide support in a post-crisis environment involv17 ing mass casualties and physical damage.

18 (6) RAPID RESPONSE PROCEDURES.—The Sec19 retary of State shall enter into a memorandum of

20 understanding with the Secretary of Defense setting

21 out rapid response procedures for mobilization of

22 personnel and equipment of their respective depart23 ments to provide more effective assistance in times

24 of emergency with respect to United States diplo25 matic facilities.
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1 (7) STORAGE OF EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT AND

2 RECORDS.—All United States diplomatic missions

3 shall have emergency equipment and records stored

4 at a secure off-site facility.

5 (b) REVIEW AND REVISION BY THE SECRETARY OF

6 STATE.—The Secretary of State shall review and revise

7 security requirements in effect for United States diplo8 matic facilities as of the date of enactment of this Act

9 to ensure their compliance with the security requirements

10 described in subsection (a).

11 SEC. 7. CLOSURE OF VULNERABLE POSTS.

12 (a) REVIEW.—The Secretary of State shall review the

13 findings of the Overseas Presence Advisory Panel.

14 (b) REPORT.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 1,

16 2000, the Secretary of State shall submit a report

17 to Congress in classified form setting forth the re18 sults of the review conducted under subsection (a).

19 (2) ELEMENTS OF THE REPORT.—The report

20 shall—

21 (A) specify whether any United States dip22 lomatic facility should be closed because—

23 (i) the facility is high vulnerability

24 and subject to threat of terrorist attack;

25 and
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1 (ii) adequate security enhancements

2 cannot be provided to the facility; and

3 (B) identify plans to provide secure prem4 ises for permanent use by the United States

5 diplomatic mission, whether in country or in a

6 regional United States diplomatic facility, or for

7 temporary occupancy pending construction of

8 new buildings.

9 SEC. 8. CURRENT AND PROJECTED ROLE AND FUNCTION

10 OF EACH UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC FA11 CILITY.

12 Not later than January 1, 2000, the Secretary of

13 State shall submit a report to Congress, in classified and

14 unclassified form, on the role and function of each United

15 States diplomatic facility through 2010. The report shall

16 describe—

17 (1) the potential for reduction or transfer of

18 personnel and equipment if technology is adequately

19 exploited for maximum efficiencies;

20 (2) the balance between the cost of maintaining

21 a secure United States diplomatic facility and the

22 benefit of a United States presence;

23 (3) the potential for relying on regional United

24 States diplomatic facilities in certain parts of the

25 world; and
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1 (4) necessary upgrades, in order of importance,

2 for such facilities.

3 SEC. 9. OVERSEAS SERVICE STAR.

4 The State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956

5 is amended by inserting after section 36 (22 U.S.C. 2708)

6 the following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 36A. THE OVERSEAS SERVICE STAR.

8 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—The President, upon the rec9 ommendation of the Secretary, may award an overseas

10 service star to any member of the Foreign Service or any

11 other civilian employee of the Government of the United

12 States who, after August 1, 1998, while employed at, or

13 assigned permanently or temporarily to, an official mission

14 overseas or while traveling abroad on official business, in15 curred a wound or other injury or an illness (whether or

16 not the wound, other injury, or illness resulted in death)—

17 ‘‘(1) as the person was performing official du18 ties;

19 ‘‘(2) as the person was on the premises of a

20 United States mission abroad; or

21 ‘‘(3) by reason of the person’s status as a

22 United States Government employee.

23 ‘‘(b) CASES RESULTING FROM UNLAWFUL CON24 DUCT.—Cases covered by subsection (a) include cases of

25 wounds or other injuries incurred as a result of terrorist
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1 or military action, civil unrest, or criminal activities di2 rected at any facility of the Government of the United

3 States.

4 ‘‘(c) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall pre5 scribe the procedures for identifying and considering per6 sons eligible for award of an overseas service star and for

7 selecting the persons to be recommended for the award.

8 ‘‘(d) AWARD IN THE EVENT OF DEATH.—If a person

9 selected for award of an overseas service star dies before

10 being presented the award, the award may be made and

11 the star presented to the person’s family or to the person’s

12 representative, as designated by the President.

13 ‘‘(e) FORM OF AWARD.—The Secretary shall pre14 scribe the design of the overseas service star. The award

15 may not include a stipend or any other cash payment.

16 ‘‘(f) FUNDING.—

17 ‘‘(1) Any expenses incurred for awarding a per18 son an overseas service star may be paid out of ap19 propriations available at the time of the award for

20 personnel of the department or agency of the United

21 States Government in which the person was em22 ployed when the person incurred the wound, injury,

23 or illness upon which the award is based.
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1 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—No funds may be made

2 available under this section for cash payments to re3 cipients.’’.

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