Why Making DC Safe Is Critical for American Foreign Policy

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The U.S. State Department’s law enforcement arm is joining forces with police in the crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C., in a bid to make the city safe for visiting foreign leaders.

“As our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., is often the first place foreign leaders, dignitaries, and officials see when they come to the United State,” principal deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott told The Daily Signal. “It is a representation of our country to the rest of the world, and it is our duty to ensure that it is safe and clean.”

The Diplomatic Security Service is actively partnering with the Metropolitan Police Department and other law enforcement to support the president’s mission of reducing and deterring crime in Washington.

“[Secretary of State Marco] Rubio is proud to have members of the Diplomatic Security Service helping to implement the president’s priority to ensure D.C. is a safe place for our fellow Americans and guests to visit,” Pigott said in an exclusive statement. “Thank you to the brave men and women of the Diplomatic Security Service and to all officers who are supporting this important mission.”

The Diplomatic Security Service routinely assesses its priorities and job functions based on the administration’s strategic interests, while maintaining its mission to lead worldwide security and law enforcement efforts, and to protect State Department people, property, and information, a senior State Department official told The Daily Signal.

The DSS is staffed to carry out its global and domestic mission. State’s highest priority is the safety and security of the American people, abroad and at home, the official said.

The Diplomatic Security Service has more than 2,500 employees worldwide, the State Department’s website says. Officers can carry firearms.

The DSS’ mission is to “lead worldwide security and law enforcement efforts to advance U.S. foreign policy and safeguard national security interests.”

Rubio recently said in an interview that Washington “is the front porch of our country” to foreign leaders.

“When we bring leaders here from all over the world—from all over the world, they come to Washington to meet with us and so forth—this is what they see,” he said. “And what they see is a place that is increasingly violent. What they see when they turn on the news is news reports that someone got assaulted, someone got murdered, someone got this. This is our nation’s capital. We have to have pride in it.”