America's "Bunker Mentality"

After the “Arab Spring,” daily news commentator Yu Manyi followed “dictators” in the Middle East falling from power, one after another; Americans naively believed the world was becoming safer. However, last week’s events taught them a lesson: Angry people besieged the United States embassies in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia, as well as embassies in over 20 countries. The United States Ambassador to Libya and three workers lost their lives in the attack there. Americans are, perhaps, innocent but not necessarily fools; they should comprehend that not everyone likes them.

This isn’t the first time a United States embassy has been under attack. Actually, the U.S. foreign embassies haven’t been peaceful since the 1980s. A country’s embassy tends to have two tasks: to protect the diplomats and to maintain a personable image while also representing their country’s image. Generally speaking, you cannot over-emphasize one task; the two must be in balance. However, within the last 30 years, due to frequent, terrifying attacks, especially after 9/11, U.S. embassies in many countries across the world have been built to seem more and more like “bunkers,” especially in those countries with strong anti-American sentiments.

When America was still a young country, it did not really pay attention to the construction of embassies, usually buying an already existing building in the city’s capital. In 1926, the Foreign Service Buildings Office, later renamed the Overseas Building Office, became responsible for designing embassy buildings. In this period, the architectural style of U.S. embassy buildings was mostly in the Classical or Colonial Revival styles. In 1954, in order to give the embassies “a distinguishable American flavor,” designs for U.S. embassies used modern architectural styles for the first time. Built in 1959, embassies in Greece and India still exemplify the styles used in this period. Although these two embassies already appear a bit outdated today, during the Cold War era people viewed them as landmark buildings and a symbol of America.

In 1983, The United States Embassy in Lebanon was attacked by a suicide bomber, causing 63 people to die; the American embassy building faced the end of the “age of innocence.” This was after the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by the Iranian people in 1979, in what was then the deadliest attack on a foreign U.S. embassy. On Nov. 4, 1979, approximately 500 Iranian students attacked and took over the U.S. embassy in Iran’s capital city, Tehran. Over 50 American diplomats were held hostage for over 400 days. Since then, Americans have developed a “bunker mentality” toward building embassies. After the attacks on the embassy in Lebanon, the U.S. Department of State founded a diplomatic security group and submitted a report in 1985. According to this report, the U.S. founded the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which created a series of new guidelines on embassy construction. The new standards stipulated that the embassy needed to be built behind a 9-foot safety wall, lay at least 100 feet from the road and have a maximum window-to-wall ratio of 15 percent. They proposed the embassy area should be 15 acres (approx. 60,000 square meters) or be far from the city center. The report also suggested that 126 diplomatic agencies undergo renovations or be completely rebuilt. However, due to lack of sufficient funding from Congress, ultimately only 15 embassies were updated to the new standards.

In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were simultaneously attacked, leaving 223 people dead. Research revealed that these embassies were both not up to the new standards; for example, the embassy in Tanzania was only 25 feet from the road. Later studies also discovered that 85 percent of U.S. embassy buildings still hadn’t met standards. These two attacks in eastern Africa brought America’s “bunker mentality” to the next level. Following the attacks, the U.S. Department of State finally received significant funding from Congress. After the 9/11 attack, America’s “bunker mentality” reached its peak and embassy construction completely turned toward safety. America once again revised its embassy building standards; the new standards require the embassies to upgrade wall height and contain the 100-foot buffer zone. Because of this, American embassies thoroughly became “bunkers.”

The U.S. embassy in Baghdad was built during the height of America’s “bunker mentality.” After the capture of Baghdad by American soldiers, with the frequent sound of explosions from suicide bombers and vehicles going off, the U.S. decided to make the embassy building in Baghdad the safest possible fortress. Construction started on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad in 2005; the building was opened in 2009. The building is located in Baghdad’s Green Zone (Safety Zone) with a size comparable to the Vatican City in Rome, surrounded by nine-foot-high safety walls. Costing $736 million to build, the embassy lies 2.5 times farther back in the buffer area than the typical standard. Inside the embassy are hundreds of embassy employees and Marines; it also has an independent water and electricity system. Some refer to the embassy as the “Fortress America” on the Euphrates River.

In the last two years, following a positive turn toward global safety, some Americans began to criticize America’s “bunker mentality.” In 2010, the U.S. State Department made adjustments to embassy standards, hoping to improve U.S. embassies aesthetically as well as make them more humanized and environmentally friendly. America’s “bunker mentality” slowed down.

Last week’s attacks perhaps renewed America’s “bunker mentality.” Some people believe a main reason why the U.S. ambassador in Libya was killed during the attack is because the embassy there was a temporary structure, with no protection or safety provided by the Marine Corps, bulletproof glass or reinforced doors. Perhaps America will again create “Fortress America” embassies around the world, especially if they face another wave of American opposition.