Inspection of Embassy Amman, Jordan

Embassy Amman’s support of Embassy Baghdad has taxed it heavily in the past year. There have been visits by congressional delegations that were primarily associated with Iraq issues and the need to provide off-site administrative support for Embassy Baghdad, to train Embassy Baghdad personnel, and to establish an Iraq Support Unit in Amman. The chargé d’affaires at Embassy Amman has effectively guided the mission through this complex period involving Iraq reconstruction activities and growing security concerns and has been particularly impressive in responding to the heavy official visitor workload.

Embassy Amman is also experiencing rapid growth. Although some agencies in the chancery had sufficient space, other sections were seriously over-crowded. Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommended that the embassy complete needed chancery-measurement, space-allocation, and realignment activities before making decisions regarding staffing increases.

The embassy's safety, health, and environmental management program was also found to have limitations. OIG recommended that the embassy develop and implement a safety, health, and environmental management program.

OIG also found problems with the American Embassy Community Services Association. Some Foreign Affairs Manual guidelines were not being met, management control deficiencies existed, and several association members were disgruntled. OIG recommended the association establish and implement procedures to ensure that activities are conducted in accordance with Department guidance.

OIG also found several aspects of the mission were largely functioning well. These include:

• The consular area, which provides high-quality services to Jordan and Iraq in spite of challenging circumstances,

• The political and economic sections, which are providing Washington readers with high-quality and wide-ranging substantive reporting, despite staffing gaps and the need to support Congressional delegations and VIP visits,

• The public affairs section, which is well-integrated within the mission, innovative and strategic in its thinking, well-connected to Jordanian target audiences, and effective in spite of dramatic program level increases,

• The International Cooperative Administrative Support Services operations were functioning well, although duplicative administrative structures exist. (The Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development maintained unnecessarily redundant motor pool, warehouse, and other operations. OIG recommended that the Embassy formally evaluate whether these services could be combined.)