DSS San Francisco Field Office trains special agents and local law enforcement partners in tactical medicine

In May 2021, the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) San Francisco Field Office (SFFO) partnered with the DSS Operational Medicine Unit to train special agents and local law enforcement partners in tactical medicine. SFFO hosted operational medicine trainers from the DSS Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC) for a two-day course designed to refresh life saving medical skills that agents and officers can use in the field. Students practiced CPR, tactical combat casualty care, and how to use an automated external defibrillator, which is a medical device that delivers an electric shock to revive victims of sudden cardiac arrest. Instructors arranged practical training scenarios for treating injuries that students might encounter during routine job functions such as serving warrants and protecting dignitaries.

Students learned how to recognize life-threatening injuries and how to work in small teams to provide lifesaving care. SFFO offered the course to Contra Costa County SWAT operators, a close law enforcement and training partner, and included special agents from the DSS resident offices in Seattle, Denver, and Salt Lake City. SFFO asked the agents to attend in order to share what they learned with their respective offices and refresh their skills using “train-the-trainer” methodology. The training was organized by SFFO’s “Medical Working Group,” a small group of special agents who assess and develop methods to keep SFFO staff up to date on critical, yet perishable, life-saving skills.