The Reluctant Ambassador

When European colleagues ask about U.S. acts of kidnapping and torture, what's an American CSO to say?

I’ve never really considered myself to be ambassador material. That all changed when I accepted my current CISO position with an international organization in Europe. I thought that when I went to lunch with one of my new colleagues, I’d be asked about firewalls, security policy or our new plan to roll out Internet access to every desktop. But because I am one of the few Americans in the organization, I am constantly being asked my thoughts about different U.S. policies or actions.

As a longtime security practitioner with a military background, this puts me in a somewhat awkward position. I try my best to represent the United States in as good a light as possible. However, the headlines about U.S. kidnapping, torture and "extraordinary" rendition have really taxed my diplomatic skills. There is not a day that goes by that I am not approached by someone from a different country asking me my opinion on the latest revelation.

In Italy, for instance, the court has issued arrest warrants for 22 CIA agents who kidnapped a Muslim cleric, Abu Omar, and flew him to Egypt, where he was tortured. Or there is the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was abducted at JFK Airport on his way home to Canada. He was sent to Syria, where he spent 10 months being brutally interrogated and tortured, without charge. Then there is the German citizen, Khaled Masri, who was abducted in Macedonia and flown to a secret prison in Afghanistan for five months. He was later released, and the U.S. State Department acknowledged he was wrongfully detained.

The Council of Europe, a 46-member rights body, has concluded that allegations of secret CIA prisons are credible and that the United States seemed to have illegally abducted and detained individuals. Based on the Council’s report, the leaders of the European Parliament have agreed to launch an investigation into the existence of secret CIA prisons in Europe. Many European national governments have also pledged to conduct separate national investigations. All of this makes it hard for me to put the United States in a good light.

Frankly, though, I’m not sure what makes me more upset: the stories of the kidnapping and torture allegedly done in the name of the United States, or the fact that-at least the way it looks from here-many Americans apparently just don’t care. Reading the news from the States, it seems that the only ones speaking out are civil libertarians and human rights activists. Is Main Street America too busy with other priorities? Perhaps they are not fully aware of the serious damage this is doing to the reputation of the United States around the world.