Advocate for Terrorism Victims Was a Victim Herself

Clutching tender ribs, her kidney pocked with shrapnel, school teacher Patsy Spier came to Washington in early 2003 seeking justice, only a few months after her husband was killed in an overseas terrorist ambush.

The Colorado woman, whose main grasp of government came from a high school civics class, strode through the halls of Congress and the State Department and used a light touch to secure help from lawmakers and diplomats.

"She was a neophyte but she had an authenticity that set her apart," recalled Tim Reiser, a senior aide to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). "She just started pounding the pavement and knocking on doors."

Ultimately Spier prevailed. Her dogged pursuit opened doors for FBI agents to gather evidence near the site of the attack in a remote Indonesian province, where she and her husband, Rick, had been teaching the children of American mining workers. After years of investigation and diplomacy, the lead shooter was convicted.

The experience transformed Spier. A few weeks ago, the woman admiringly described by friends as a "bureaucracy buster of the first order" joined the federal government in a role that allows her to help other victims of overseas attacks.

As coordinator in the Justice Department's Office for Victims of Overseas Terrorism, Spier, 51, will locate terrorism victims and assess whether they need money, counseling, or other services. She'll also help train FBI agents and prosecutors to work more effectively with grieving families. In no small way, she will advocate for people who lack the tenacity and diplomatic skills that helped her win justice.

No such assistance existed for her in late 2002, let alone for victims of Middle East attacks dating back decades, Spier noted.