Dick Kalla - Russian Spies, Qadhafi, And Other Memories

T his memoir is dedicated to all my relatives and friends who have asked me what I did in the Foreign Service. As I have struggled to explain my job, many of you have shaken your heads knowingly, seemingly secure in your knowledge that I was some kind of spy. Try as I might to explain otherwise, there were always a few skeptics who thought I was trying to cover up my real occupation. Let me state here for the last and final time -- I was not a spy. In fact, the State Department has no spies! There are people overseas who do that kind of thing, possibly even some assigned to Embassies, but they do not work for the State Department, at least not directly. I worked exclusively for the Department of State as a communicator. My job title and duties changed drastically over the years as I climbed the government ladder; but, as a Foreign Service communicator, my primary responsibility was the transmission and receipt of all diplomatic correspondence (classified and unclassified -- electronic or otherwise) at the Embassy where I was assigned. Over the years my responsibilities increased to include managing the Embassy switchboard, the Embassys various computer networks, radio networks, etc. I can feel eyes begin (once again) to glaze over as I start to list what I did at my overseas Embassy so I wont bore you any longer. Suffice it to say that I did many things during my 33 years in the Foreign Service, but none of them involved spying. If, after that long explanation above, you still choose to believe that I was a spy, go ahead, its just not true.

Another reason for writing this memoir is to try to show what we (the Kalla family) did for those 33 years that we spent in 12 different countries. In the past, we have tried to explain to our friends and relatives about our experiences. Some of you have been very interested and have listened intently as we excitedly rambled on about our adventures. Others of you have put up with our babble, but have clearly not been able to relate (not your fault) to what we were trying to tell you. When that happened, you usually changed the subject to a topic with which you were more familiar (understandable). If you fall in that category, this is your chance to read about our adventures at your leisure. Of course, if you have no interest in exploring my life journey, you are under no obligation to go any further and this would be a good place to quit reading.

Am I being too self-important calling this work a memoir? At first glance I thought so. Dont only important or famous people write memoirs? Im certainly not famous and I dont feel especially important. At a loss for what else to call it, I consulted my handy Websters College Dictionary for an answer. The very first definition Websters gives for the word memoir is: A record of events based on the writers personal observations. That sounds exactly like what I am doing. I am writing my personal observations about things that happened to my family and me while I served in the Foreign Service. Armed with this definition, I have decided that a memoir is what it is. On the other hand, this is not a complete accounting of my Foreign Service experiences. The material herein consists of brief slices of life at each post where we were stationed. Is it enough to be called a memoir? I dont know, but I guess it will have to do. If it bothers you, call it what you like.

Portions of the material contained in this memoir were originally published in the CANDOER Report, an informal periodical directed specifically at retired Foreign Service communicators. CANDOER made it a point to solicit material from retirees like me; and, after initially submitting an article or two to test the water; I decided to write about each of my 12 Foreign Service assignments. They form the basis for this work.

However, since those articles were meant to be read by retired communicators, much of the material they contained would probably not be of great interest or understandable to anyone who did not work behind the vaulted doors of a classified overseas communications office. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of changing some of the original material so that it could be better understood by everyone. In other cases, I left parts of the original article intact to try to give the reader a better feel for the work that I did. Since this is not a travelogue, there are places we lived where the only real interesting things, in my mind, happened at work; and if I eliminated those references, there wouldnt be much left about which to write. I hope that I have succeeded in making this memoir informative, interesting and enjoyable. If it isnt, it cost you nothing but time.

Finally, I should say that everything I have written is true or at least as true as my rapidly diminishing memory allows. If there are any inaccuracies, they are strictly accidental and have not been included to simply spice up the story. I have not tried to verify or provide other sources for anything contained herein. In some cases I have eliminated names to protect the reputations of people. Other times, I kept the names to make the story more interesting. If anyone I have written about objects or finds fault with what I have written, I apologize in advance. It was not my intention to besmirch reputations. I merely attempted to provide the stories as they were told to me, or as I remember them.

Chapter One