Safety above all

As I've said more than once, we are well on the road to believing that safety is the most important thing in life and we fear being deprived of safety most of all.  The money we spend, the people we kill, the wars we wage, the time expended - it's all worth it if we prevent another 9/11.  It all sounds so out of place in the land of the free and the home of the brave.  But, then, we are becoming a nation of talkers, not doers.

The commotion over "Benghazi" is another manifestation of our fears.  McCain and company believe that we should never lose an ambassador to terrorists; protection is the sine qua non of diplomacy.  Daniel Drezner has the perfect response to the senator:

In a world of real-time diplomacy, a fundamental truth has to be acknowledged in Washington:  being a foreign service officer carries risks with it. While, all else equal, those risks should be minimized, the U.S. needs to live with some degree of risk rather than sacrifice the ability of its diplomats to interact and engage with counterparts and locals in foreign countries.  

Rather than the simple mantra of "never again" when reacting to the death of Ambassador Stevens, the life and mission he desired should be valorized a bit more. Stevens knew that the best way to advance U.S. interests in Libya was to be on the ground. Doing that from embassies that resemble Orwell's Ministry of Truth is a difficult task.  

There is a tradeoff between protecting U.S. officials overseas and promoting their ability to advance the national interest. I fear the pendulum has swung way too far towards the protection side, and Stevens' death will only exacerbate that shift. The cruel irony is that Stevens, of all people, would have abhorred that shift. Better that we openly acknowledge the risk that foreign service officers face in overseas postings, recognize the bravery and loyalty that their service entails, and let them do their f***king jobs.