December 30, 2005, marked a significant milestone in the special relationship between the U.S. and Liberian governments. On that date, two special agents from the Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security arrived in Liberia to set the stage for a two-pronged mission: provide temporary security for Africa's first female head of state and transform Liberia's Special Security Service into a professional presidential protective force as the nation emerged from 14 years of civil war.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice directed DS to undertake this mission following then-President-elect Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's request for assistance prompted by the fragile security environment in Liberia.

In the two weeks it took Liberia's National Elections Commission to retrieve and count election ballots, supporters of Sirleaf's political rival, presidential candidate George Weah, launched violent protests in Monrovia. These protests further challenged the fragile peace environment after the 14-year-old civil war.

Complicating basic law enforcement, Liberian police and security personnel carried no weapons because of a 2003 disarmament program. Security was, and in many respects remains, the responsibility of the 15,000-strong United Nations Mission in Liberia.

Into this chaotic scenario DS special agents Michael Lombardo and Paul Bauer arrived to develop a protective security mission for President-elect Sirleaf. They were joined two days later in Monrovia by 18 additional agents from the Office of Mobile Security Deployments and a tactical medical officer from the Department of Homeland Security.

MSD is the Department's civilian response force that deploys to protect individuals abroad during periods of high threat or crisis. It also provides specialized security training at Foreign Service posts. "We faced considerable challenges on the ground," Bauer said. "We had to set up everything and had very limited resources."

TIGHT SCHEDULE

With the Liberian presidential inauguration scheduled for January 16, 2006, the DS team had to work quickly. Bauer received assistance from DS' chief representative in Monrovia, Regional Security Officer Chuck Lisenbee, and from DS security engineering officers stationed at U.S. posts in neighboring countries. Together, they conducted security surveys of and created command posts in President-elect Sirleaf's official executive mansion and her residence.

At the executive mansion — a six-floor structure that had been the site of the violent military coup that toppled the William Tolbert government — DS also helped install closed-circuit surveillance cameras, security lighting and other security infrastructure.

In addition to protecting the president-elect and training her new SSS personnel, DS also prepared for the inauguration ceremony. DS personnel created a communications network, analyzed motorcade routes, planned for medical evacuations, identified members of the Liberian police and UNMIL who could provide support and delivered much-needed armored vehicles and other equipment.

On January 16, under the watchful eye of her temporary DS security team and with Secretary Rice and First Lady Laura Bush looking on, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was inaugurated.

"Everyone was there – President Bush's protective detail (protecting First Lady Bush), the Secretary of State's protective detail and several other high-profile guests," Bauer said. But despite all the planning, the new president put her security team to the test by changing her post-inaugural plans. "At the end of the inauguration, President Sirleaf decided that she wanted to take a victory lap of the whole city of Monrovia," Bauer said. "We had to scramble to make it possible."

AROUND THE CLOCK

By February 15, the initial team of 18 DS special agents had rotated out of Liberia. They were replaced by two fresh MSD teams of 12 agents, 12 U.S.-based DS field agents and another DHS tactical medical officer.

The new teams worked two shifts to provide around-the-clock protection for President Sirleaf. In addition to their long workdays, DS personnel sometimes faced additional—and unique—challenges. For example, on return flights to Monrovia from rural visits to the interior of Liberia, the DS security team often shared space with small farm animals that Liberian tribal leaders had presented as traditional gifts to honor their new president.

Besides protecting President Sirleaf around the clock, DS personnel were busy vetting, training and standing up a new presidential security force. Heading up this effort was special agent John Frese, a DS veteran who had served two previous tours of duty in Liberia.

Frese was familiar with the potential dangers facing the Liberian president and her new security service. In April 1996, Frese spent two days driving across Monrovia through gunfire, looting and fighting among three different militias to save some 250 U.S. citizens who had been trapped in and around the capital. His efforts earned him the Department's Award for Valor.

"We started entirely from scratch," Frese said of the Monrovia assignment, noting that the Liberians had virtually no resources to protect their new president. "The assets were all shipped in on very short notice. I don't know of any other organization that could do it so completely and quickly."

As an added challenge, the DS team had a limited pool from which to recruit security professionals inside the country. "In a place like that, you don't put out job ads," Frese said. Instead, the DS team vetted hundreds of SSS candidates recommended by the new administration.

In Monrovia, DS agents and UN peacekeepers trained SSS agents in basic security tactics, such as defensive driving and protective security operations. More than 100 SSS agents were selected to receive four weeks of advanced training from DS Antiterrorism Assistance program instructors in the United States.

By June 15, 2006, the day the last temporary DS security detail left Liberia, some 330 SSS agents had completed basic law enforcement training at UNMIL's training academy in Monrovia. An additional 101 SSS agents had completed advanced security training in the United States, and basic security infrastructure had been installed at the official presidential residence.

Besides standing up the new presidential protective force, the DS mission also helped cement a special relationship with the head of Liberia's new government, who, Frese said, placed her full trust in DS personnel.

"We developed an excellent relationship with her," he said. "She let us take the lead. She was open to ideas. She pretty much let us run the show. She treated us with respect and dignity, and you can't ask for more than that."

Epilogue: Following a September 2006 meeting between President Sirleaf and Secretary Rice, it was agreed that DS would return to Liberia to further the professional development and administration of Sirleaf's SSS.