Diplomatic Security Special Agents: Women of the Global Force

Diplomatic Security (DS) is the worldwide law enforcement and security arm of the U.S. Department of State with special agents assigned to U.S. diplomatic missions overseas and field offices throughout the United States. Diplomatic Security special agents are sworn law enforcement officer and are members of the Foreign Service. 

Overseas, special agents advise ambassadors on all security matters and manage a complex range of security programs designed to protect people, property and information.  In the U.S., special agents protect the Secretary of State and visiting foreign dignitaries, investigate passport and visa fraud and other crimes, and conduct personnel security investigations.

The first female special agent, Patricia Ann Morton, joined DS in 1972. Today women comprise a little over 10 percent of the special agent force.  They serve as regional security officers, the senior security adviser to the U.S. ambassador, in some of the world’s most dangerous countries. 

Special Agent Charlene Lamb will receive the Distinguished Performance in an Overseas Arena Award at the annual Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE) Conference this year. She is being recognized for sustained superior performance, courage, and unrelenting drive while serving as a regional security officer around the world. Currently she is serving as the regional security officer in Berlin, Germany, but will return to Washington, D.C., this summer to become the Assistant Director of the Diplomatic Security Training Center. Special Agent Lamb has also served in Guatemala and Kuwait.

Special Agent Justine Sincavage received a Distinguished Honorable Mention for the Julie Y. Cross Award from Women in Law Enforcement organization in 2004.  Special Agent Sincavage was cited for her performance as regional security officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, from 2002-03. She was the first permanently assigned regional security officer since the embassy’s closure in 1989. She developed a comprehensive security program to protect the embassy’s personnel, facilities, and information during a period of heightened threat from al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other insurgents during the U.S. war on terror in Afghanistan

Special Agent Laureen Stephens received a Distinguished Honorable Mention for the Julie Y. Cross Award from Women in Law Enforcement organization in 2003 for serving as a Supervisory Special Agent at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Special Agent Stephens served as the Deputy Regional Security Officer in one of the largest embassy security programs in the world protecting the lives of Americans, diplomats and private citizens from terrorist groups and anti-American elements that operated freely in Lebanon at that time. 

Special Agent Denise Montgomery received a Distinguished Honorable Mention for the Julie Y. Cross Award from Women in Law Enforcement organization in 2002. Special Agent Montgomery, while on a protective assignment for a visiting foreign dignitary, prevented an individual from lighting two gasoline-soaked torches that were directed towards the dignitary.  She physically restrained the individual from accomplishing this potentially disastrous attack.

All DS special agents successfully complete a rigorous six-month training curriculum, that includes legal training, weapons training, defensive tactics, protective security, criminal investigations, information security, IED recognition, motorcade attacks, antiterrorist driver training, and more. Women agents also serve in the Mobile Security Division, a special unit that responds to high-threat emergencies around the world. DS agents are U.S. citizens, have a BA/BS degree at the time of their appointment, pass a stringent medical exam, and are available for worldwide assignment.

In 2005, women agents will serve in South Africa, Kenya, Serbia, China, Russia, Macedonia, Lebanon, Colombia, Egypt, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Iraq.

For more information, visit our Web site at: www.diplomaticsecurity.state.gov