Cary O'Connell - Defense Security Cooperation University

Faculty

Peace & Security

Ms. Cary O’Connell joined the Institute for Security Governance (ISG) in September of 2021 as a member of the the Peace and Security (P&S) Peacekeeping and Exercises team. Ms. O’Connell overseas ISG activities in support of peacekeeping exercises in support of Geographic Commands in building peacekeeping capacity. She also supports peacekeeping training to support partner nations and enhance multi-national peacekeeping efforts.

Prior to joining ISG, Ms. O’Connell spent 20 years as a government contractor supporting the Department of Defense’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) and Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA); Department of State’s Bureau on International Security and Nonproliferation; Department of Energy’s’ National Nuclear Security Administration and the National Laboratories on security cooperation associated with weapons of mass destruction (WMD) nonproliferation, border security and trade-based money laundering around the globe. She also supported the DSCA regional centers in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Africa. She has extensive experience working with Russia, the former Soviet Union (FSU), and Eastern Europe. She possesses strong Program Management, Leadership and Acquisition/contracting experience.

Ms. O'Connell oversaw the contract support for DSCA's Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Marshall Center Partnership for Peace Consortium, Near East/South Asian Center, and the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies, providing staff to support Institutional Capacity Building programs. She also managed several contracts and grants in support of the State Department's Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program and Export and Related Border Security Program. This includes training partner nations in WMD security, such as Personnel Reliability, Border Security, Trade Based Money Laundering, and related topics. She ran workshops and trainings around the globe for the National Laboratories is support of DOE/NNSA's nonproliferation programs. Ms. O'Connell spent over 10 years supporting the DTRA CTR program, primarily working in nuclear weapons site and transportation security in Russia and China, as well as chemical weapons demilitarization in Russia and Albania.

Ms. O’Connell has a Master of International Affairs with a concentration in US Foreign Policy Security Policy Studies. She has a Bachelor of International Studies from Middlebury at Monterey, with one year abroad at the Moscow State Linguistic University. She lives in Monterey, California with her family.