Keynote address at the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC).
Jones, David T.
Keynote Address at the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC)
By Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State
Reviewed by David T. Jones, co-author of Uneasy Neighbo(u)rs, a
book on U.S.-Canada relations
Text: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/11/112084.htm
Video: http://www.state.gov/video/?videoid=2642400001
The Department of State hosted a conference of the Overseas
Security Advisory Council (OSAC) on November 19. Doubtless for many
State employees, the swarm of "OSAC" ID badge wearers was the
first time they had ever encountered the organization (and they did not
bother to learn more).
Nor will they bother to read Secretary Rice's brief cameo
appearance speech--the pedestrian text of which one might suspect she
first encountered on her way to the Dean Acheson Auditorium.
Nevertheless, its substance reflects the unpleasant reality of the
past and the equally unpleasant expectation for the future: the threat
of terrorism against all American citizens overseas, be they official,
business, academic, or tourist.
The OSAC, a public partnership encompassing 12 federal agencies and
over 5,600 private groups, from business to academia and nongovernmental
and faith-based communities, has been a partial answer to enhancing the
security of American citizens overseas. Rice cited examples inter alia of cooperation/advice during the Beijing Olympics and
analytic/investigative support for the Marriott Islamabad bombing.
Rice also singled out the development of the Country Council
Program, which is designed to help U.S. businesses and organizations
maintain effective security procedures tailored to the specific
countries where they operate. Today, there are over 100 Country Councils
attached to U.S. embassies and consulates, including one to be
established in Baghdad.
Omnipresent security concerns have become one of the
tension-inducing burdens of foreign service; little known OSAC is one of
the palliatives to counter this unending headache.
