The Inman Report, formally known as the Report of the Secretary of State's Advisory Panel on Overseas Security, was a report released in 1985 in response to the Marine barracks bombing and the April 1983 US Embassy bombing in Beirut, Lebanon. The report is usually known by the name of its chairman, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, USN (Ret.)
The report recommended a range of security improvements, including increased setback between embassies and public streets. It also recommended a major building program to improve security in existing embassies, and build new embassies to replace those that could not meet security standards. A direct result from the Report was the creation of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Diplomatic Security Service within the U.S. State Department.
Background
The early 1980s experienced a wave of terrorist attacks on diplomatic premises. On April 18, 1983, a mass bombing resulted in the death of 63 people, including 18 Americans, and the injuring of 120 people in an attack by Islamic Jihad on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. On December 12, 1983, another attack was targeted towards the United States in Kuwait City, which caused five deaths with a dump truck filled with plastic explosives. Beirut experienced a second attack on September 20, 1984. This time a truck bomb killed 24 people, including two Americans and injured an additional 21. These attacks prompted the United States to take a new perspective regarding the protection of diplomatic premises.