News from the Field: Reflections of a FAO Peacekeeper

By Lieutenant Colonel Jacinta “Puffy” Anderson-Lujano, U.S. Air Force

“You came on a great day – with this visibility you can see straight across into Syria.”

That was what the Finnish officer providing my post-brief told me as I stood overlooking the Occupied Golan from Israel. I was in the middle of a familiarization tour, a “perk” that came with being a United Nations (UN) peacekeeper in Israel. At that moment, I could not help but think, “this is one of the most remarkable experiences I will ever have as an Air Force officer.” The same thought drifted through my mind several times over my six-month UN deployment. 

When an email popped in my inbox looking for a short-notice deployer to be the “Deputy Chief Liaison Officer to Amman and Tel Aviv,” I did not know much about the UN, or peacekeeping for that matter. What I did know was the job sounded like Foreign Area Officer (FAO) work and the location was in Israel. As a Central Command (CENTCOM) FAO, I could not turn down the chance to experience Israel’s transition from European Command (EUCOM) to CENTCOM firsthand, not to mention the opportunity to see, hear, and potentially influence issues related to the Middle East Peace Process. Spoiler alert: my work in the UN mission was not Peace Process focused – so, for my thoughts on that, you will have to buy my book, “Puffy Ponders the Peace Process.” (not a real thing . . . yet)

Ultimately, I was selected for the position and began working through the tasking owner, the U.S. Military Observer Group, or USMOG, to learn how to be a UN peacekeeper. USMOG is the U.S. military organization responsible for administration, assignments, and training of U.S. military peacekeepers. They manage 34 active Peacekeeping billets at UN Missions in Mali, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel, and Libya (with duty in Tunisia). There are billets assigned to all services across nearly all ranks, though most are reserved for field grade officers. 

Shockingly, USMOG is constantly in need of volunteers or short-notice fills for these positions. Given the small number of billets to be filled, the strategic importance of these missions, and the unique opportunity afforded the U.S. military members in these positions, I expected there would be a waiting list of volunteers (or a competitive nomination process for that matter). However, I found myself in a diverse training class of 18 individuals from all four services with most being volunteers who, like me, could not believe no one else knew about these opportunities. We remained a tight group over five weeks of training to include classroom academics, all-terrain and defensive driving, shooting on multiple weapons systems, mass casualty medical, and conduct after capture. After five weeks, we all forward-deployed to our respective UN missions – most went on to Africa, while two of us journeyed to Israel to support the UN mission there – the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, or UNTSO.

UNTSO is actually the oldest UN mandated mission, established in 1948 in response to the Arab-Israeli War – yes, I was lucky enough to serve in the oldest UN mission as my first UN mission. The UNTSO mandate was and remains:

“Observing and maintaining the cease-fire, and as may be necessary assisting the parties to the Armistice Agreements in the supervision of the application and observance of the terms of those Agreements.”

To put it more simply, UNTSO observes and maintains the cease-fires (and armistices) related to the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. This makes UNTSO not only the oldest mandated UN mission, but also the only regionally mandated UN mission, operating across territorial and national boundaries of five countries.

To carry out that mandate, the UNTSO mission is essentially two-pronged with a focus on observation and liaison functions. Most of the 153 military members of UNTSO support the observation function as highly skilled observers forward-deployed to conduct observations, patrols, inspections, and investigations in one of two locations – either along the “Blue Line” separating Israel and Lebanon, or on the Occupied Golan Heights separating Israel and Syria. A much smaller team of military members supports the liaison function. There are liaison offices responsible for maintaining relations in each of the mandate countries: the Liaison Office Beirut in Lebanon, the Liaison Office Damascus in Syria, the Liaison Office Cairo in Egypt, and the Liaison Office Amman and Tel Aviv in Israel (also responsible for Jordan). 

I supported the liaison function as the Deputy Chief Liaison Officer to Amman and Tel Aviv (DCLOATA). As the DCLOATA, I was responsible for supporting and conducting strategic level engagements with national authorities in both Israel and Jordan, the embassies of the P5 countries (the permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the UK, and the U.S.), the embassies of nations that contribute troops to the UNTSO mission, think tanks, regional authorities, and media. The focus of our work as liaison officers was to maintain situational awareness of evolving regional trends and conflict inter-linkages affecting UNTSO’s mandate. 

The work was, to say the least, more than rewarding and the experience was incomparable. I do not think I will ever be in another position where I get to say: “Let me run that by our U3, Operations Officer from China before discussing it with our Deputy Liaison Officer in Damascus from Russia.” While I am no stranger to coalition or multi-national work as a FAO, the UN mission afforded me the once in a lifetime opportunity to work side-by-side with teammates from 28 countries, including China and Russia. That is the stuff FAO dreams are made of in my opinion.

While I cannot speak to the Africa missions specifically, I am sure they are just as impactful and dynamic. I know the U.S. peacekeepers in those missions hold many different positions: Senior Staff Officers (think Chief of Staff), U2 – Intel, U3 – Operations, U4 – Logistics, HR functions, and more. Additionally, serving as a UN peacekeeper through USMOG also qualifies you for future service at UN Headquarters in NYC. 

Though anyone can volunteer for these positions – I mean it, reach out to USMOG and volunteer immediately! – I would argue they are not only the perfect chance for FAO enrichment, but also an indispensable opportunity for professional development that provides the necessary skills to meet future complex diplomatic and strategic challenges. Each of these missions comes with a readily available wealth of institutional regional knowledge, and provides members an immediate network of colleagues from nations across the globe; both of which are vital assets in a time of crisis. Any military member would benefit from a UN deployment, but the Department of Defense and FAO community would especially benefit from placing FAOs in these positions whenever able, building a cadre of warrior diplomats well-versed in multi-national problem solving and imbued with the dexterity to operate in any environment or location. 

For more information on UN deployments, contact USMOG at: usarmy.pentagon.hqda.list.dcs-g-3-5-7-usmog-all@army.mil

Caption: Lt Col Anderson-Lujano (Maj at the time) with other UNTSO members in front of the Government House (GH), Jerusalem.

Caption: Lt Col Anderson-Lujano (Maj at the time) standing on an observation post overlooking the Occupied Golan.

Caption: Lt Col Anderson-Lujano (Maj at the time) in front of UN observation post (OP) 53, accompanied by the Chief Liaison Officer from Finland.

Note: while national caveats prevent military members from P5 nations serving as military observers on the Occupied Golan, familiarization tours are authorized.

About the Author

Lieutenant Colonel Anderson-Lujano is a Middle East FAO and Arabic linguist assigned as the Director of the Theater Engagement Department at the USAF Special Operations School (USAFSOS), Hurlburt Field, Florida. She leads a team of military personnel and contractors responsible for  courses focused on regional, cultural, and security cooperation education for Air Force special operators. Previously she served as the Deputy Speechwriter to the Commander, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) at Camp Humphreys, Republic of Korea.  Prior to that she was the Regional Engagement Strategist in the Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT), Commander’s Action Group at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. She has a  Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Northcentral University, Phoenix, AZ and a Master of  Arts in Security Studies, Middle East Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA.