April 2, 2002
Link to the Postimees Article

Embassy Response to Postimees Editorial on Embassy Security

To the Editor:

What do Lima, Aden, Nairobi, Oklahoma City, Beirut, Dar es Salaam, Dhahran, and Arlington, Virginia all have in common? Not much, except they were all sites of terrorist attacks against U.S. Government facilities within recent memory. Terrorist attacks against U.S. government facilities can happen anywhere, even here in friendly Tallinn - unless strong measures are taken to make such attacks difficult for terrorists to plan and execute. The Postimees editorial of March 30 suggests that the success so far of the campaign against Al Qaida bases in Afghanistan should eliminate the need for enhanced security measures for the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn and our immediate neighbors on Kentmanni street. We wish we could assure ourselves and our neighbors that there was such a direct connection between Kandahar and Kentmanni, but we do not share Postimees' view that the international threat of terrorism is now low enough to let down our guard. Indeed, as Postimees' article and editorial were being written, the flag at this Embassy was flying at half mast in recognition of the murder of Barbara Green, a U.S. diplomat, and her daughter who were killed while they were in church in the diplomatic compound in Islamabad.

Vehicle bombs are one of terrorists' favorite weapons. Since the early 1980's, hundreds of individuals have died in vehicle bomb attacks on U.S. government facilities in the U.S. and abroad. In Dar es Salaam, a city to which the U.S. Government assigned the same low "threat level" as Tallinn, the August 7, 1998 bombing killed ten people and injured seventy more. In Nairobi, considered one "threat level" higher than Tallinn, the August 7, 1998 bombing claimed 213 lives. 167 of those lives were those of people who had nothing to do with the U.S. Embassy, but happened to be living, working, or just walking nearby. The situation of the Embassy in Nairobi was very similar to our Embassy here. The Embassy was located directly on a city street that was open to traffic. Usama bin Laden's operatives had watched the Embassy for over two years and selected it because of its vulnerability. This is an important point: the easiest way to attract terrorists is to provide them with easy targets.

Some may say, "that could never happen in Tallinn," but there are thousands of injured survivors on several continents who used to think the same was true of their hometowns. Hundreds of Americans and people of other nationalities died in the attacks listed in the beginning of this letter. Indeed, a car bomb exploded behind the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn just two years ago.

Fortunately, we have found more understanding for this sad truth in the Estonian government and in the city government than we found in your editorial. We are working hard with the Estonian authorities – and above all with our neighbors on Kentmanni Street to find a way to increase all of our security and to minimize the disruption to the life of this neighborhood. Our proposed plan will not affect free pedestrian passage on Kentmanni street; it will not affect our neighbors' ability to come and go without interference from us; and there will be provisions for emergency vehicles to drive on the street as well (something that is not possible now). Our plan would replace what everyone agrees are unsightly concrete barriers with an attractive park. This will be done at our expense. In consultation with our neighbors, we plan a guarded parking area behind our building for both embassy vehicles and those of our neighbors'. Guests of our neighbors may also park in the controlled space under the same sorts of conditions that are expected of visitors to controlled parking areas all over this city.

These prudent measures are not unusual for northern Europe. Visitors to the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, for instance, pass through a fenced checkpoint guarded by two armed Swedish police officers almost one hundred meters before reaching the front door of the embassy there. The streets in front of our Embassies in Berlin and Vienna (both of which traditionally were much busier than Kentmanni) are closed to traffic.

We wish we did not have to inconvenience our friends and neighbors. We wish terrorist attacks on American diplomats were not a standard feature of life in the world. Unfortunately, we must recognize terrorism against diplomats will likely remain an ugly reality for us and for capitals that host us.

Our neighborhood and our neighbors are important to us. The Kentmanni neighborhood has great significance to us. Our mission today is located in the same building as our legation to the first Estonian Republic. The building is old and is not as modern and attractive as many Embassies in Tallinn, but we are attached to what it stands for. It has been worth some inconvenience to be in it. We hope our friends feel the same way.

Sincerely,

Thomas Hodges
Press and Cultural Attaché
U.S. Embassy, Tallinn