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"Going through a terrorist truck-bomb attack is like being in a plane crash or a fire-fight in combat. You have to be there."

A Marine Who Was There

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"[If] the terrorist truck. . .[had entered] the underground parking garage. . .we would have lost hundreds of embassy employees."

Peter E. Bergin, deputy assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security

The bomb that ravaged the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, three months ago shattered walls 12 inches thick like they were plate glass. The building ignited like a concrete shotgun, propelling 50-pound chunks of shrapnel in every direction. Floors and elevators collapsed, burying people alive. There was blinding smoke everywhere. Fuel lines were ruptured. And hundreds of people were screaming all at the same time; many of them were already dying.

As the stunned survivors struggled to leave the building, all off-duty Marine Security Guards (MSGs) assigned to the embassy were scrambling to get in. Their job was just beginning.

At almost the exact same time, on a breathtakingly beautiful Indian-summer eastern-Africa winter morning, terrorists exploded another truck bomb 450 miles away that cleaved through the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Only one Marine was on duty at the time--not unusual for a six-man detachment responsible for providing around-the-clock security. (Only 20 percent of the 122 MSG detachments worldwide have more than 10 Marines, who serve as the "internal gatekeepers" of the embassy and are assigned to external-security duties only in emergencies.)

Their skills honed by countless "react" drills, the five off-duty MSGs in Dar es Salaam arrived at the embassy within minutes, wearing the same clothes they had on when alerted.

Like their fellow Marines in Nairobi, they saw chaos and destruction everywhere they looked. "Tires were bursting and vehicles were exploding. It sounded like artillery," recalls GySgt. Patrick L. Kimble, commander of the MSG detachment in Tanzania. "There was fire, smoke, and bodies all around. We weren't sure if we were being attacked."

Although almost 90 percent of the embassy was still standing, not one office was intact and, to make things worse, a 6,000-liter high-octane gas tank nearby was leaking. The Marines rushed to their "react" room to pick up their prestaged weapons, helmets, and flak jackets. Their next move was to quickly evacuate as many people as possible from the smoke-filled building, after which they combed through every room they could reach, securing classified material and, finally, establishing a defensive perimeter to prevent possible looting.

The local police were ineffective after the blast, but Tanzanian troops arrived after two hours and provided significant assistance. Meanwhile, the embassy's Marines continued to help the injured and to remove bodies, while carefully preserving the site for later investigation (by the FBI). They also continued, in accordance with established procedures, to destroy the embassy's classified material, a task that took 12 hours to complete.

"MSG duty can be boring, but one percent [of it] is sheer terror," said John S. DiCarlo, a former MSG and 13-year veteran Department of State (DOS) veteran who now serves as the regional security officer (RSO) in Tanzania. "When it goes bad, it goes bad."

Greater Distance, Greater Security

Days before the attack, DiCarlo had, at a Marine's suggestion, ordered his local Tanzanian guards to conduct vehicle searches 25 feet further out from the embassy's perimeter. That decision prevented the terrorist truck from getting closer to the building's entrance. The blast was still strong enough, though, that five of the six guards at the entrance died in the explosion, which killed a total of 11 people (all Tanzanians).

There also were 76 injured, including Kimble's wife, Cynthia, who was working on post at the time (and was evacuated to London). Except for rushing to the airport for 30 minutes, Kimble remained at his post. "I did what I had to do," he said.

Because of the bombings, DOS has initiated a survey to determine the security of its facilities worldwide--inspection teams have visited more than 30 suspect locations in the past two months. It already has been determined that a number of embassies will be relocated to interim sites until more secure permanent facilities are available (through purchase or new construction).

"MSGs abroad, along with our embassy employees, are at the mercy of their building locations. There is no substitute for adequate 'standoff-distance' to save lives and to minimize bomb damage," said Peter E. Bergin, DOS's deputy assistant secretary for diplomatic security. "This is a priority."

A number of posts will see major improvements in security within two years, but it will take longer for others. Because of their size and location, some large downtown embassies, like the U.S. Embassy in London, probably will never be relocated. Bergin said that U.S. ambassadors and RSOs are dealing with host countries to provide the standoff-type protection--blocked-off streets, concrete-planter barricades, surveillance devices, and guards--already evident at the White House and State Department, on Capitol Hill, and elsewhere in Washington. Most host governments are cooperating--the security of foreign diplomatic missions is their responsibility.

"The quality of the local guards varies, but they perform best at posts where there are Marines." said Bergin. "The guards in Nairobi prevented the terrorist truck from entering the underground parking garage.

If that happened [i.e., if the truck had gained access], we would have lost hundreds of embassy employees."

A Life-Saving Sprint

Two of the embassy's six MSGs were on duty on that overcast 6 August morning in Nairobi. GySgt. Gary B. Cross, the newly arrived detachment commander, was checking his classified e-mail in a second-floor office that was filled with DOS employees. When he heard a hand grenade explode outside (it killed one of the Kenyan guards who had halted the terrorists), Cross immediately sprinted down a staircase to Post #1. His instincts saved his life. Ten seconds later, the truck bomb exploded, killing eight people in the office who had rushed to the window to see what had caused the noise.

The explosion that killed 215 people, including 12 Americans, and injured thousands felt "like a 10,000-pound bomb" to Cross, who was knocked momentarily unconscious. The MSG manning Post #1 survived, but the post was without lights and communications. Four off-duty and two visiting MSGs reacted quickly, however, and went to work helping the injured, restoring order, and maintaining security.

The devastation in Nairobi was much worse than in Dar es Salaam. "The building looked like it was 80 percent destroyed, you could see across every floor. It was a mess above the ground floor with smoke, debris, paper, and blood everywhere," recalls Cross. "People were screaming and hollering."

In the smoke, Sgt. Daniel M. Briehl fell down a two-story elevator shaft, broke three ribs, and required hospitalization. Cross later found him wearing a hospital gown and digging with his hands through the rubble; he ordered him back to bed. As it happened, Briehl was looking for another MSG, Sgt. Jesse N. Aliganga, who had entered the embassy moments before the explosion.

There were several extremely tense moments, as well as some initial looting, when thousands of Kenyans converged on the embassy after the blast. No classified material was lost, however. The embassy's Marines, armed for combat and aided by a few U.S. Special Forces soldiers and a Navy Seabee, kept the would-be looters back for 36 hours--until they were relieved, in other words.

"When the embassy falls down around your ears, the interior security spreads out a bit more," commented Maj. Anthony R. Herlihy, operations officer of the Corps' MSG battalion in Quantico, Va.

Kenyan newspapers were initially critical of the Marines, but the finger-pointing subsided quickly. "President Moi [Daniel T. arap Moi, president of Kenya] told me it was the type of reaction you would expect after a tragedy," said Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, USMC, commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command. "The ambassador and everyone else I talked to there had nothing but the highest praise for the Marines."

Plaque of Honor

Rescuers found Sgt. Aliganga almost 28 hours after the blast. Marines solemnly carried out his flag-draped body while thousands of Kenyans watched quietly. Later that month, in a moving ceremony at Quantico that was attended by Bergin and other DOS officials, Aliganga's name was inscribed on the bronze plaque that lists the 12 MSGs who have died on duty through the years. The plaque hangs in the lobby of Marshall Hall, the home of the MSG School, from which Aliganga had graduated only six months before.

"Seeing that young man graduate with such high expectations and then be a casualty was a gut-wrenching experience," said Col. David S. Burgess, MSG battalion commander, who spends 50 percent of his time visiting his detachments around the world.

The long and already close relationship between the Marine Corps and DOS has become even closer because of the bombings. In the past year alone, new MSG detachments have been assigned to Vladivostok (Russia), Hanoi (Vietnam), Sarajevo (Bosnia), and Tirana (Albania). A newly updated DOS/Marine Corps phase-in plan calls for 37 more MSG detachments, requiring about 300 more Marines, to be created over the next 5­7 years.

"They will serve at posts formed since the breakup of the Soviet Union and the development of new countries," said Gen. Charles C. Krulak, Marine commandant. "We want to do it, but we can't keep taking people out of the FMF [Fleet Marine Force], so we will ask for an end-strength relief. MSGs are some of the best Marines we have. They are unsung heroes. You never hear about them except when a disaster strikes."

The Lessons Learned

Marine Corps and DOS security experts are still sorting out the lessons learned from the 6 August bombings, but some facts already have been determined:

• State-of-the-art surveillance cameras were not used in Nairobi or Dar es Salaam. DOS now will install them worldwide. They could help identify a problem and/or sound an alert before a future crisis, and would help FBI investigators afterwards.

• MSGs need better body protection (and soon will receive 1,500 lightweight but significantly improved inner-armored vests).

• The MSG performance in Africa validated the training that Marines receive, both at the MSG school in Quantico and on the job. ("Sometimes even we don't realize the depth of our own training," Herlihy reflected.) MSG officials say that they want "react" drills to be more realistic, though, and they will encourage greater Marine interaction with guards drawn from the local populace.

• Although both Post #1s survived the bombings, they were badly damaged and lost communications. The DOS is working with the Marine Corps to develop backups for such situations. One possibility being considered is to issue cell phones to the MSGs. Several weapons changes, including the issuance of nonlethal weapons, to the MSGs also are under study.

FAST Reinforcement

Within 48 hours after the bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, both MSG detachments had been reinforced by 50-man Marine Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) platoons that flew in from Nicosia (Cyprus) and Bahrain to bolster internal-security functions at what was left of the two embassies (and at the interim facilities that were being quickly set up). To meet future contingencies, the Corps is forming an expanded crisis-response force that will include medical and other support personnel.

"It was good to get security there, but once you secured the area, they also needed disaster relief," said Krulak. "We are going to do that."

Calamities can sometimes serve as watershed learning experiences. Neither Kenya nor Tanzania was considered a high-threat post. Officials hope the 6 August bombings will be a wake-up call to overcome complacency, a danger that sometimes exists in the theoretically "low-threat" posts.

"I went from going 200 miles-per-hour in Algeria [which is considered a high-threat post] to a complete standstill in Australia, where some security things were not getting done," recalls a former MSG detachment commander.

GySgt. Cross is convinced that all posts are high-threat, and that terrorists will always try to hit the easiest targets. He said that his Marines are living proof that disaster can strike anyone anywhere--and at any time. Burgess is more comfortable when his Marines live inside the compound of secure embassies, but most reside outside, as do their DOS counterparts. That may change, but not everywhere. And not immediately.

How do Marines feel about being targets? "Most don't dwell on it," said SgtMaj. Ronald B. Biggs, sergeant major of the MSG battalion at Quantico. "Marines will never blend in. We tell them 'don't be complacent.'"

They are more cautious now, but life goes on for the Marines in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam--who, until the new embassies are built, are serving in relocated facilities. Eventually, the damaged embassies will be "dropped"--i.e., completely (but safely) demolished.

"The bombings will get people's attention," said DiCarlo. "Before, the local press griped about our access-control procedures, and even some embassy employees were irritated by our drills. Now we are getting no complaints."

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