Ms. Wendy Bashnan

She is the Principal Security Advisor to the Secretary General and to the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and acts as Chair in high level committees. She interacts with senior Government officials, Military officers and discerns the possible political ramifications of NOS' work. She is responsible for negotiating and implementing Security Agreements with non-NATO nations and International Organizations. She leads and manages around 190 staff from NATO nations. Ms. Bashnan became Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) New York Field Office in August 2016. In this role, she oversaw all investigative and protective security operations at one of the largest and most active field offices in the U.S. covering the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. She was – and remains - a member of the Senior Foreign Executive Service.

Prior to this, Ms. Bashnan completed a year assignment as the Executive Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security where she served as the chief of staff for the DS front office and the primary DS interlocutor with Department and interagency staffers on the full spectrum of security programs, to include the formation of policy and planning, utilization of resources and the evaluation of DS' overall mission and performance for the Department of State, both domestic and overseas.

Ms. Bashnan served as the Special Agent in Charge for the Miami Field Office November 2012 to May 2015. In this capacity she was responsible for managing and directing DSS criminal investigations and protective operations in a region consisting of the eight southeastern states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Miami Field Office also consists of five resident offices in New Orleans, Hot Springs, Atlanta, Charleston and San Juan, as well as DS participation in four regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF – Orlando, New Orleans, Atlanta and Miami) and two HIS Document Benefit Fraud Task Forces (DBFTF – Miami and Orlando).

Her previous senior assignments for Diplomatic Security include the Senior Regional Security Officer (RSO) in the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq (2011-2012) and in the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela (2009-2011). Earlier in her career Ms. Bashnan served as the Deputy Olympic Security Coordinator in Beijing, China from 2006-2008 and Agent in Charge for the Office of Dignitary Protection from 2004-2006, serving as the Major Events Coordinator for the United Nations General Assembly 60th Anniversary.
Other assignments included Washington Field Office (1995-1997), Assistant RSO in Cairo, Egypt (1997-1999) and RSO in Georgetown, Guyana (1999-2001) and Asmara, Eritrea (2001-2004). Ms. Bashnan is the recipient of numerous U.S. Department of State Superior Honor and Meritorious Honor awards throughout her career. Prior to joining DSS, Ms. Bashnan was a probation/parole officer in the great State of South Carolina.

A native of South Carolina, Ms. Bashnan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of South Carolina.