Cables From the Field: a Diplomat’s Lessons From the Two Decades Since 9/11

Cables from the Field: A Diplomat’s Lessons from

the Two Decades Since 9/11

Anne W. Patterson*

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

I. I LEARNED THAT WE NEED MORE CIVILIANS ON THE GROUND WHO

KNOW THE ENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

II. I LEARNED THAT OUR MILITARY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS HAVE FAILED

TO IMPROVE CAPACITY IN CRITICAL COUNTRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

III. I LEARNED THAT TERRORIST DESIGNATIONS ARE OFTEN

COUNTERPRODUCTIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

IV. I LEARNED THAT THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE INVESTED MORE

RESOURCES AND EXPERTISE IN MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY . . . . . . . . . . . 87

CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

INTRODUCTION

I was in Colombia when the planes hit the World Trade Center, and over the

next two decades I served as the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan and to Egypt, and

as Assistant Secretary of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, a bureau

which had programs in Afghanistan and Iraq to professionalize the police and to

promote a fairer system of justice. My last assignment was Assistant Secretary of

State for the Middle East and North Africa, where I had a broad view of our coun-

terterrorism efforts. I benef‌itted from seeing the enormous contrast between U.S.

efforts in Colombia and the more haphazard approach in Pakistan and the Middle

East.

The War on Terror was not a fraud. There were some extraordinary successes

against the real threats the United States and its allies confronted for the past two

decades. CIA analysts found Osama bin Laden; case off‌icers saved hundreds of

people; and linguists and analysts at NSA had some amazing but unheralded suc-

cesses. The SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden became a legend.

Americans were also responsible for major improvements in the capacity of our

allies, from training the Colombians to combat kidnappings or to protect their oil

infrastructure, to intelligence cooperation during Saudi Arabia’s internal war

against its domestic terrorists, to defeating ISIS by partnering effectively with the

Kurds.

* Anne Woods Patterson is a retired American diplomat and career Foreign Service Off‌icer. Her

postings have included service as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (2013 to 2017),

U.S Ambassador to Egypt (2011 to 2013), U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan (2007 to 2010), Assistant

Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (2005 to 2007), Deputy U.S.

Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2004 to 2005), Ambassador to Columbia (2000 to

2003), and Ambassador to El Salvador (1997 to 2000). © 2021, Anne W. Patterson.

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