Diplomatic Security

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security, commonly known as Diplomatic Security (DS), is the security branch of the United States Department of State. It conducts international investigations, threat analysis, cyber security, counterterrorism, and protection of people, property, and information. Its mission is to provide a safe and secure environment for officials to execute the foreign policy of the United States.

Overview

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) is the political face and parent organization of the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). The DSS consists of over 2,000 Special Agents who are responsible for protecting visiting foreign dignitaries and U.S. diplomatic missions abroad. The DSS is the primary conduit utilized by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Department of State for the majority of all security and law enforcement matters. Both acronyms (DS and DSS) are used interchangeably within the State Department and other agencies.

The Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security is in charge of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Under the Assistant Secretary of State are several Deputy Assistant Secretaries; the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary is the Director for the Diplomatic Security Service. The Director for the DSS is the top-ranking, active special agent in the DSS and leads a force of Special Agents, Diplomatic Couriers, Security Engineering Officers, and Security Technical Specialists. Special Agents are sometimes referred to as "DS Agents" or "DSS Agents". Both terms are used interchangeably within the organization and other agencies.

For people who do not work for the Department of State (DOS), there is much confusion about the relationship between DS and DSS. Even within the Department of State, there is still some confusion regarding the difference between the two entities. The DSS is structured as a law enforcement agency that is primarily made up of federal special agents, and the DSS acts as the operational division of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

Overseas, DS develops and implements security programs to safeguard all personnel who work in every U.S. diplomatic mission around the world and to protect classified information at these locations. The DS presence overseas is led at each post (embassy) by a DSS Special Agent who is referred to as a Regional Security Officer, or more commonly as the RSO, and who serves as the senior law enforcement and security attaché. In the United States, DS protects the Secretary of State, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and foreign dignitaries/diplomats who visit the United States. DS has protected Yasser Arafat, the Dalai Lama, and Prince Charles. The agency develops and implements security programs to protect the more than 100 domestic State Department facilities as well as the residence of the Secretary of State.

In addition to investigating crimes involving passport and visa fraud, DSS agents are engaged in other types of investigation. In cooperation with appropriate U.S. agencies such as the FBI and the CIA, DSS investigates the activities of foreign intelligence agencies directed against Department employees. At the request of other law enforcement agencies, DSS assists in apprehending fugitives who have fled the United States. Personnel security background investigations are conducted on all employees, applicants, and contractors seeking employment with the Department. Intelligence investigations look into terrorist incidents and threats made against State Department employees and facilities throughout the world.

Since 1984, DS has administered the Rewards for Justice Program, which pays monetary rewards of up to $5 million, or in recent years even more, upon special authorization by the Secretary of State, to individuals who provide information which substantially leads to the countering of terrorist attacks against United States persons. Through 2001, $62 million had been paid to over forty people in this effort.

History

Bureau of Secret Intelligence

The Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service was formally established in 1916 under Secretary of State Robert Lansing. The office was headed by a chief special agent, who also carried the title of special assistant to the secretary and reported directly to the secretary on special matters.

A handful of agents worked out of two locations, Washington, D.C. and New York City, operating on confidential funds from the secretary's office. They conducted sensitive investigations, especially on the operations of foreign agents and their activities in the United States. The Diplomatic Security Service was known as the Bureau of Secret Intelligence at its inception in 1916. The Bureau of Secret Intelligence was also known as U-1, an off-the-books adjunct to the Division of Information. Before the United States entered World War I, German and Austrian spies were conducting operations in New York City. The spies were using forged or stolen identity papers. President Woodrow Wilson authorized the Secretary of State to establish a security arm of the Department of State. Three agents were recruited from the United States Secret Service because of their experience with counterfeit documents. Since the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) had the best laboratory, the director of the new agency was recruited there.

The assumption is that the name "Office of the Chief Special Agent", which was sometimes used in 1916, and to this day by various information portals to include the Department of State's website, to downplay the bureau's original mission.

In 1918, the United States Congress passed legislation requiring passports for Americans traveling abroad and visas for aliens wishing to enter the United States. Shortly thereafter, the Chief Special Agent's office began investigating passport and visa fraud. Special agents also protected distinguished visitors to the United States.

During World War I, the Chief Special Agent's office was given the responsibility for interning and exchanging diplomatic officials of enemy powers and assisting in screening people repatriated from enemy-controlled areas.

The Chief Special Agent began reporting his normal activities to the Assistant Secretary for Administration. However, he still retained his title of Special Assistant to the Secretary and reported directly to the Secretary on sensitive matters.

With the help of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), security at State expanded and increased the depth of personnel investigations. The Chief Special Agent's office was used not only for security work within the State Department but also in several aspects of immigration control and in the control of crime on the high seas.

In the 1930s, it became clear that there were major passport fraud activities worldwide involving both Communists and Nazis. The Chief Special Agent's office, working as the investigative and identification arm of the Passport Office, successfully exposed several of these subversive operations.

Office of Security (S.Y.)

With the coming of World War II in the minds of the political leaders of America, they decided it was time to develop a separate branch of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. This new branch would be referred to as the Office of Security, or simply the S.Y. One major addition to the Bureau of Diplomatic Society stemming from the addition of the Office of Security was the development of security staffs on a regional level. The Office of Security was also responsible for starting the use of overseas agents carrying out various tasks to protect the security of the United States.
As the threat of terrorist acts against America grew, the SY expanded its role as a part of the United States Department of State.

World War II

In many of these cases, the passport aspect was incidental to a much larger problem - Soviet and German espionage networks. Investigation of passport fraud in New York City led to the discovery of a Soviet intelligence network that, in turn, revealed a number of Soviet agents and American Communist Party members engaged in espionage activities. Although a back-door approach, these investigations succeeded in exposing for the first time the existence of such Soviet operations.

With the outbreak of World War II