(DS). The Director of DSS is an active DSS agent and is often referred as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS), as he/she is senior to the various assistant directors of Diplomatic Security who hold positions equivalent to Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS). The PDAS designation signifies the DSS director's preeminence over the other DASs within DSS, while at the same time signifying his/her position under the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security. The first several Assistant Secretaries for DS were senior Foreign Service Officers, while the last three have been senior law enforcement officers, brought in from other law enforcement agencies. With the creation of DS and DSS, its ranks grew to well over 1,000 agents. However, by the mid-1990s, budget cutbacks were foisted on the U.S. State Department by Congress, and the department in turn trimmed the budget of DSS to the point where it had dwindled to a little over 600 agents. Although DSS was by then a Bureau within the State Department, the vast majority of RSOs overseas continued to report to the Administration Officer. This changed in 1999, as fallout from the East Africa embassy bombings of 1998. The terse message from the then Undersecretary for Management announcing the immediate change made it clear that this action was against his best judgment and insinuated that it was done because then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright ordered it. This change stripped DSS out from under Administration Officers and placed the RSO directly under the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in the chain of command at an Embassy. Structure and organization Outside the Department of State, there is much confusion about the relationship between the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) and the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). The DS oversees all security related matters of the Department of State, which includes security at U.S. embassies and consulates. DS has approximately 34,000 employees, of whom roughly 2,400 are U.S. federal agents within DSS. As such, DSS is the primary mechanism by which the Bureau of Diplomatic Security accomplishes its law enforcement (criminal investigative) and security missions. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is headed by the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, who in turn is served by several Deputy Assistant Secretaries (DAS). The Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) is the Director for the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) and is always an active DSS Special Agent.All employees who work