Kiev Embassy Guards

Marine security guards were recently deployed to the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, with the troops slightly augmenting the existing Marine security guard force there, according to a State Department statement.

Last week, bloody street clashes between demonstrators and government security forces left more than 80 dead, the deadliest violence in the country since it gained independence when the Soviet Union collapsed 22 years ago.

Amid the unrest, the U.S. sent a team of Marines to the embassy to beef up security. "Security of our posts worldwide is our highest priority [and] worldwide post security is under constant review," State Department spokesman Fred Lash wrote in a Feb. 25 statement.

This deployment falls in line with a newly formed Marine Security Augmentation Unit that can respond to any crisis at a moment's notice from its home at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA. Inside the Navy reported earlier this month the unit has performed 10 operational deployments since its inception last July.

If there is any indication or warning that something "bad" is happening at an embassy, four to 12 Marines from the 120-man unit are deployed, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos said Feb. 11 at an event in Washington.

"We fly these teams in and they could be there for a month, two months," he said.

The unit is composed of 10 squads of Marines who have returned from a three-year embassy security guard tour, Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Eric Flanagan said Feb. 12.

This new unit was made possible by the fiscal year 2013 Defense Authorization Act which allowed the Marine Corps to increase the security guard number by 1,000.

"The purpose of the increase . . . is to provide the additional end strength and the resources necessary to support enhanced Marine Corps security at United States embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic facilities, particularly at locations identified by the Secretary of State as in need of additional security because of threats to United States personnel and property," the legislation reads.

Before Congress authorized an additional 1,000 Marines for the security guard role, the service had 1,200 security guards, Flanagan said.

The law allows the Marine Corps to boost the number of security guards over the next three fiscal years, but Flanagan said the service will fulfill the number before then.