Bureau of Diplomatic Security DS

The State Department has had security officers since 1916, but the modern Bureau of Diplomatic Security was created in 1985 after the 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut. A commission led by retired Admiral Bobby Inman recommended a dedicated security bureau and stronger embassy construction standards, and the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 put them into law.

Its Diplomatic Security Service is the department's law enforcement agency, with special agents posted at embassies and consulates in nearly every country and in field offices across the United States, giving it the widest global reach of any American law enforcement agency. Agents serve as regional security officers who run embassy security programs, protect the Secretary of State and visiting foreign leaders, and investigate passport and visa fraud, which is often linked to human smuggling and terrorism. The bureau also runs the Rewards for Justice program.

Embassy security decisions involve hard tradeoffs between protecting personnel and letting diplomats engage with local populations. The 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, led to an independent review, congressional investigations, and new funding and standards for high-threat posts.