BBG Watch Commentary
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member Ambassador Ryan Crocker said that the forces behind the 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, where 241 American service-members died, continue to be active in the Middle East, especially in Syria.
Ambassador Crocker was speaking at a BBG board meeting in Washington, DC on Wednesday, October 23, 2013, which was the 30th anniversary of the Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing. Crocker was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut at the time of the bombing.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors the independent federal agency that oversees all U.S. civilian international media. The nine-person bipartisan BBG board is currently chaired by Jeffrey Shell, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment. Ambassador Crocker is one of the Republican members on the BBG board.
“I cannot let today or this meeting pass without noting the significance of today. October 23, 2013 is the 30th Anniversary of the Marine Barracks Bombing, in which 241 service-members. I was assigned to Beirut at that time.
So, I hope we will all remember it. It is, of course, no longer news, but that bombing and the forces behind it continue to play in the Middle east, most especially in Syria,” said Ambassador Ryan Crocker.
Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker is dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University — a position from which he had taken a leave of absence to serve as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012.
His is also the James Schlesinger Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia. Prior to resuming his position as dean, Ambassador Crocker was a Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale University. His 37-year career in the Foreign Service included service as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon. He is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Board of Trustees of Whitman College. Ambassador Crocker is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service. He earned a B.A. from Whitman College.
Crocker serves as a member of the Special Committee on the Future of Shortwave Broadcasting.
He was confirmed as member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors on August 1, 2013.