Embassies

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EMBASSIES

EMBASSIES are the official missions through which nations conduct their foreign affairs. Embassies are headed by ambassadors, the highest-ranking diplomats stationed abroad. In the United States, the president, with the consent of the Senate, appoints ambassadors. From these outposts, ambassadors and their staffs promote the interests of their nation, work to protect citizens traveling abroad, and gather information about the host country.

Since the American Revolution (1775–1783), the United States has sent diplomats to and exchanged them with other nations. By the early part of the nineteenth century, the United States had nearly two hundred over-seas posts. However, none of the foreign missions was officially an embassy, since U.S. leaders did not consider their dealings with other nations important enough to warrant either the creation of embassies or the naming of ambassadors. In the late-nineteenth century, however, this attitude changed, and the United States began to aspire to the rank of a great power with a more assertive foreign policy. Consequently, in 1893, President Grover Cleveland established the first American embassies in England, France, Germany, and Italy. During World War II (1939–1945), President Franklin D. Roosevelt nearly doubled the number of ambassadors and embassies so that the United States had thirty-six embassies in 1945. But the most rapid increase in the number of embassies came in the postwar era, when the United States emerged as the dominant world power. In 2002, the United States had embassies in more than 140 nations.

An American embassy not only serves as the headquarters of the ambassador, who acts as the president's representative in the host country, but it is also a busy office for lower-ranking diplomats, U.S. Department of State employees, and officials from other foreign affairs agencies. The embassy's staff of Foreign Service officers is divided into four sections: political, economic, consular, and administrative. Political officers are responsible for keeping the ambassador and State Department informed about the political climate in the host country. They analyze developments in light of American foreign policy goals. Economic officers assess the host country's financial dealings, including exports and imports, and conduct commercial negotiations over matters such as patent rights and trade regulations. Consular officers work to ensure the safety of Americans traveling or working abroad and determine whether foreigners should receive immigrant or tourist visas to enter the United States. Administrative officers manage the day-to-day operations of the embassy. Foreign service officers normally spend two to three years serving in one embassy. They are then transferred to another foreign post or brought back to the State Department in Washington, D.C.

Most embassies include employees of other foreign affairs agencies, such as the Agency for International Development, the U.S. Information Agency, the Commerce Department, the Defense Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency. U.S. marines and other military personnel provide security for embassies. In most embassies, foreign nationals make up some of the administrative staff. An embassy's staff can be as small as the U.S. embassy in Dublin, which in 1995 had 36 employees, or as big as the Moscow embassy, which had a staff of 288.

Embassies are considered an extension of the home country's territory, so no one is permitted to enter an embassy without the ambassador's permission. However, because embassies serve as tangible representatives of the home country, they can become targets for political opposition in the host country. During the later years of the twentieth century, much attention was focused on the security of Americans working abroad. The event that precipitated such concern was the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by revolutionaries opposed to America's support for the shah of Iran. Seventy-six Americans were taken hostage, excluding the ambassador, who was on vacation. For 444 days, until the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan, 52 were held in captivity. After the Tehran debacle, Congress passed legislation to shore up the security of embassies. For example, new embassies were supposed to be set back from the property line by 100 feet. Unfortunately, attacks on embassies continued. In April 1983, the Beirut embassy was the target of a terrorist bombing. And in 1998, truck bombs devastated embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. The Nairobi attack was the worst such incident in American history as 46 embassy employees were killed, including 12 Americans. Approximately 175 more innocent bystanders outside the embassy gate were also killed in the explosion.