I will never forget the morning of the evacuation of employees from AmEmbassy Islamabad in March 2003. Those who were staying gathered in front of the embassy to say goodbye and hurry back and give final hugs to the evacuees. It was a sad and somewhat scary scene. I was also in the Ops Center when Cairo, my new assignment, evacuated over 800 employees and family members due to the Arab Spring civil unrest. Which makes it so concerning that the current evacuations have been delayed far too long. Thanks for another insightful post.
Thank you for reading, Christine! State has done so many evacuations over the years— absolutely no need for the Department to be caught so unprepared. So much expertise has been lost over the last few years from firings and early retirements. And of course, there’s the issue of having experts and not listening to them.
I will never forget the morning of the evacuation of employees from AmEmbassy Islamabad in March 2003. Those who were staying gathered in front of the embassy to say goodbye and hurry back and give final hugs to the evacuees. It was a sad and somewhat scary scene. I was also in the Ops Center when Cairo, my new assignment, evacuated over 800 employees and family members due to the Arab Spring civil unrest. Which makes it so concerning that the current evacuations have been delayed far too long. Thanks for another insightful post.
Thank you for reading, Christine! State has done so many evacuations over the years— absolutely no need for the Department to be caught so unprepared. So much expertise has been lost over the last few years from firings and early retirements. And of course, there’s the issue of having experts and not listening to them.