Podcast Transcript

18 January 2006
Transcript of Ambassador Tuttle’s welcome speech at the Conference of American Leaders at the U.S. Embassy in London

Ambassador Robert Tuttle

It's a great pleasure to welcome you to the first conference for American community leaders at Embassy London.

First of all, thank you for your service to your fellow Americans.

You represent civic and fraternal organizations, religious institutions, schools, and businesses, and your work is an important part of the support network for our fellow citizens living here in the United Kingdom.

What you also have in common is that, by the nature of your positions, you are all leaders and spokespersons for those Americans.

As the President's representative in the UK, my mission is two-fold. I represent the views of the U.S. government to the people and leaders of this country. As important is my responsibility to look after the welfare of American citizens in the UK.

About four million Americans visit the UK every year, the largest number anywhere outside North America. They include tourists, students, business people, and others. We also have more Americans living in the UK than in any other country outside North America. We think that there are about 250,000, but that's only an estimate because American residents are not required to inform the Embassy of their presence.

What we hope to accomplish today is to acquaint you with of the many services the Embassy provides to Americans. They range from traditional consular assistance with expired or stolen passports, to help with the U.S. legal requirements to bring an adopted child to the U.S., to the issuance of social security numbers for adults and children.

And we can even help you register to vote.

In October, we inaugurated a monthly newsletter, disseminated by email, with information about our services and legal and safety issues affecting American citizens. I hope all of you are recipients and ask that you encourage your fellow Americans to sign up.

There is no subscription charge and no advertising. The newsletter also offers other important tidbits, including, for example, links to government sites where you can get information on everything from bird flu to global warming.

In addition to the routine help the Embassy provides on a daily basis, we're also "on the job" during crises. You certainly won't be surprised to hear that in emergencies, such as right after the london tube bombings last July, we face extraordinary demands. Assisting American victims and their families is a top priority.

But sometimes finding out whether Americans were among the victims can be difficult, and accounting for those who have been out of recent contact with their friends and families back home takes on great urgency.

If any of you were out of contact the fateful week of the July terrorist attacks, vacationing at some distant beach resort or hiking in the Scottish highlands, the State Department probably heard from your friends or relatives who could not get in touch with you and were desperate to know if you were okay.

Whenever an event such as this happens, the Department of State gets literally thousands of calls from Americans worried about their loved ones abroad, and we do everything we can to be responsive. This is an important part of our work, and there is something you can do to help us do it better. And that something is registering with the Embassy.

You don't have to come in person; you can do it online. It takes almost no time. Please consider it, and encourage your American contacts to do so as well. We've included information in your folders on how to register; I strongly encourage you to review the information and share it with others.

It's time now to turn the program over to our Cnsul General, John Caulfield. My wife Maria and I look forward to meeting you all later this evening at Winfield House. Again, welcome.

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