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Has anyone else experienced this before?

Pete

Pete

In the more poor areas of Bogota you will find some anti American grafitti, but in the other areas I felt more comfortable and more safe in Bogota.

I'm not an expert on these kind of matters but I think your advice is poor and might possibly have the exact opposite affect that you desire.  The Federal beauracracy is a maze for sure but a week or two delay, especially after 9/11, is nothing to get worked up about. My opinion is that the embassy is doing the best job they can under difficult situations, especially considering the volume of VISA applicants they are directly responsible for.  Contacting your congressman over small delays and trivial matters seems unlikely to speed your paperwork up.  If I were processing a stack of security clearances and a Federal inquiry came in after only a small delay, I'd make sure I put the complainer's application at the bottom of the stack.

Having her wait in Bogota strikes me as an emotional response and one that only adds tension to what may already be a tense time for her.  I think the better approach is to be calm, have the wife return home and wait for the paper work to come back.  It's not the end of the world and be glad that in less than two months a person can complete a process that others have been working on for years.

Anyway the Embassy staff aren't perfect but they do a reasonably good job.  They called my wife in a little less than a week and this seemed great to me.  On the otherhand, if a couple of weeks pass, send a POLITE email to the Immigrant VISA section (include case #) and ask for a status update on her case.

My wife returned for her second appointment and was told
about the delay, and then questioned harshly since the
questioners assumed that a delayed security clearance meant
a suspicious background. [They actually told her that
they were not sure about some of her answers. This--as I
later got a higher-level official to admit--was misleading.]

What if she had come from Cali and received such b.s.?

If they have not taken care of their business by the
2nd embassy appointment--which they set according to their
work load and/or convenience--they should phone the spouses
and tell them there has been a delay, and not force them
to come all the way to the embassy, perhaps from as far as
Cali--just to hear that there has been a delay.
No enterprise in a competitive market would long exist by
treating people that way. Most embassies operate this way.

I felt I should tell my Congressman the details of my
experience, and seek remedy, since I saw nothing in their
demeanor or professionalism that lead me to believe that
my future experiences with them would be any different than
the previous ones.

They are after all--at least in theory--public "servants".

Typically I am a very patient person and I really want to be in this case, but it is very difficult.  

I am trying to wait until a week has went by before trying to get the ball rolling.  It is frustrating when you have done all your homework and you go to the Embassy feeling prepared and ready, just to feel jerked around later.

Yep, it happened to my wife also.  The second interview was more or less a waste as the security clearance had not come back from Washinton even though a month seperated the 1st and 2nd interview.  A week later they telephoned my wife at her home in Cali and told her to come to Bogota.  Everything went smooth from there.