Munich Security Conference 2010

Location: MUNICH, GERMANY


DISCLAIMER: I am excited to announce I have been given permission (more like strongly encouraged) to talk about my internship and the “company” for whom I work. Therefore, I am the Political and Economic Diplomacy Intern at the U.S. Consulate in Munich (my roommate is my German counterpart) and I took the internship to determine whether I wanted to pursue this career. As I said in an earlier entry, I really wanted to be involved in foreign policy decision making, travel the world, help end human trafficking, and speak foreign languages. Also, my father was a 28 year career Air Force officer, so serving my country is inherent in my genes. I also moved a lot during my childhood and therefore I have a knack for making friends quickly. Like my father told me, the State Department seems to be the best fit. And after this last weekend, I am prepared to enter the service.

The CODEL press conference on the second day

Last weekend, Munich hosted the 2010 Munich Security Conference (München Sicherheitskonferenz). From the moment I knew about my internship in August, my boss had been stressing the importance of the Conference and the experience I would garner from just this one weekend. Last year, Vice President Biden attended the Conference and this year the Consulate was the staging ground for the U.S. Congressional Delegation (CODEL), including Senators McCain, Lieberman, Graham, Kyl, Kerry, and Chambliss and Representatives Harman, Sanchez and Flake. In addition, numerous other high-profile Americans joined the delegation including Madeline Albright and Henry Kissinger, both former Secretaries of State; James Jones, National Security Advisor; James Stavridis, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander of Europe; and Ivo Daalder, U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, Brussels. Our delegation joined foreign ministers, prime ministers, defense ministers and other representatives from nearly 60 different countries, including Saudi Arabia, Germany, Israel, Afghanistan and Spain, to discuss “Peace in the Middle East”, “Resource Security and Shifting Global Power”, and “The Future of European and Global Security” among other topics. This namedropping gives you a little understanding of the backdrop of my weekend.


Now, I’ve always heard people say, “It can all change that quickly” or “It just happened so fast.” For instance, with this internship, I found out about the interview on Monday, on Tuesday I had the interview and on Wednesday I had the internship. While the semester leading up to my move was anything but short, I felt like suddenly “here, I am living in Munich”. And at the conclusion of this weekend working the Munich Security Conference and on the eve of returning to a regular work schedule, I realized how quickly the three days truly “happened so fast”. I find myself rethinking all the amazing moments, and how even though they are now permanent memories, they were fleeting moments. In fact, the moments that made the experience and work worthwhile, were seemingly all grouped into about a 5-6 hour window on Saturday afternoon.

Senator McCain and myself

Friday evening, my colleague (also my roommate) and I were site officers for a dinner hosted by the Mayor of Munich. In my own biased thoughts, it was an epic success. We had worked so hard for the weeks leading up to the event and it was great to see our work pay off in the positives. In those weeks leading up, I had to laugh because my boss would introduce my colleague as the Consulate’s “German Masters student”. Then he would say, “This is Heather, our American intern. You know what, she is getting her Masters in Aviation Accident Investigation and Reconstruction, so she will be able to handle anything that goes awry.” I would just smile and think “This is not an aviation accident. This is a train wreck”.

Train wreck avoided, I found myself bored on Saturday morning. After a few hours of unnecessary moping and failed attempts at helping out any of my busy colleagues, I took Kit’s advice of “Don’t take no for an answer” and applied it to my “make the most of your time” philosophy. So, with my hybrid philosophy, and hoping for some political celebrity watching, I sat in the hotel’s lounge and watched the speeches on television. I had only barely finished my first cappuccino when a tall man sat down next to me. We got to talking about the speeches and about our jobs, with me at the Consulate and him at NATO. “Oh, so you know the area? Can you suggest a restaurant with good, authentic Bavarian food, but edible food because I don’t want that offal stuff and without lederhosen,” he asked. I haven’t been in Munich long enough to give restaurant suggestions, but I told him I would find someone from the Consulate who knew of a good place. He scribbled down his email and headed off for a meeting.

Before the Conference began, I had noticed one of my father’s friends on the guest list. I had hoped to catch him before the end of the Conference, but had had no success. I had someone save my seat and headed over to the Congressional Delegation (CODEL) control room. This room is strictly guarded and only those with a certain mark are allowed in. I had gotten a special mark to get in on Friday, but even then, I wasn’t supposed to be in there. I knew the CODEL was in the plenary session so I went in to ask if anyone had seen my father’s friend. While chatting with one of the military escorts, he asked me where I was attending college. “Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University”, being sure to say the whole name since no one ever knows where that is. Not a second later, another military escort came up to me and said, “It is great to meet another alum”. A bit surprised to find each other, we chatted for a bit longer and he invited me to dinner later that night with the rest of the CODEL military escorts. I told him I would meet him back in the CODEL area after I was done.

By this point I was getting hungry and remembered the “good Bavarian food” request. I asked a fellow Consulate colleague where he would suggest and took those suggestions to write an email. I opened the slip of paper that the NATO guy had written his name on and it was almost illegible. I Googled the information I could read, hoping to get something. Instead, a few letters into the name, Google finished his name and sent me to a page full of his photos and Wikipedia page. I opened the page and found out that he was the spokesman for NATO! I sent him the information and headed downstairs to catch the CODEL press conference. While taking pictures, my phone rang. It was “NATO” calling and asking me to dinner. I told him drinks would be better, since I already had plans with the military escorts. We agreed on a time and I took off to meet with the military escorts.

I reiterate again: For weeks, all of the Consluate was told that the CODEL room was off-limits to EVERYONE. The only way to be allowed in was to be personally invited by one of the Congressional members. As I tip-toed to the front of the entrance, one of the escorts asked me if I had my camera. I said yes, a bit confused though, and handed it to him. I turned just in time to realize that he was leading me to my political hero, John McCain.

At this point, I literally had to remind myself to breathe. In the weeks leading up to the Conference, my mother, in her infinite wisdom, had told me to prepare for this moment because she knew how I would react. I had settled on “It is an honor to meet you”, which I hope actually came out my mouth. We took a picture together and talked, along with fellow Arizona Senator Jon Kyl (R). As the conversation began to wind down, I leaned in to both of their ears and said, “I’m a Republican”. That was not part of the planned talk, but they both laughed and John McCain said, “Well, that seems to be your Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.



Senator Kyl and myself

 I talked a little longer to Senator Kyl about NASCAR, humidity in Florida and Arizona’s beauty. At one point he said to me with a grin, “Let me get this straight. You are a Republican and you like NASCAR. You are just not cut out for the Foreign Service.”

After the talks and fearing retribution for being in the “off-limits” room, I tried to slink out, but was quickly brought back in my staffers, handed a glass of wine and sat down in front of a big screen TV. It was turned to CNN International, but more importantly to the CODEL press conference. It was truly surreal to hear the voices discussing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on TV, now discussing in person where to get drinks for the night. On a side note, apparently I was on CNN International a little later, but I haven’t been able to find the footage.

After some time, we all made it to the Hofbrauhaus for drinks. “NATO” and his friend also joined. I had to laugh because we ended up at the most touristy, Bavarian restaurant listening to a polka band who were all dressed in lederhosen.

“NATO” invited me the following day to watch his boss, the Secretary General of NATO, deliver a speech, which “NATO” had written. After watching the speech, I was able to stay in the plenary and watch speeches by Madeline Albright and Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai. Later, as I stood at a table in the coffee lounge reading the day’s press clips, I thought about how quickly everything had happened in just those few hours on Saturday: met the NATO spokesman, met a fellow ERAU alum, saw the CODEL press conference up-close, took a photo with John McCain, had a glass of wine with some of the CODEL members and drank beer at the Hofbrauhaus with my new acquaintances. I was relishing in my experience when suddenly I had coffee splatter all over the papers. I looked up to see what inconsiderate individual had done the deed and looked square at the German Minister of Defense. Suddenly it wasn’t such an offense by the Defense. After all, it was a quick cleanup and became another fleeting memory.