Mahvash S.

Selected by senior-most officials at the U.S. Department of State (under President Trump administration) to serve as the Charge d'Affaires/Acting Ambassador for two years and lead the U.S. Embassy in Tonga. Assigned role after the most rigorous/competitive selection process in the Department, and based on 21 years of U.S. interagency leadership, management, and national security experience. Not able to actualize role given reduction in force.

Served as senior U.S. diplomatic representative and chief external voice of U.S. policy in-country, shaping public positioning across government, media, and international stakeholders. Led integrated external communications strategy supporting bilateral trade, security, and economic engagement priorities. Advised senior U.S. leadership on reputation management, messaging alignment, and diplomatic narrative strategy.

• Led S&T cooperation with 22 European/NATO countries and China on AI, Quantum, Synthetic Biology, Space, Cancer research, guarding American S&T interests while enhancing strategic collaboration. • Headed U.S. delegation in negotiations with Portugal, shaping agreements that strengthened NASA cooperation, defense research, health and science partnerships. • Resolved disputes with Spain on particle physics collaboration, securing multi-million-dollar investment in U.S.-aligned programs (FERMI) and restoring NATO science-defense trust. • Navigated complex treaty talks with China, ensuring alignment with White House and DoD while safeguarding U.S. research priorities against exploitation. Negotiated US-China S&T agreement and did Congressional advocacy to protect research security and American S&T interests. • Earned Meritorious Honor Award for advancing U.S. diplomatic, defense, and economic interests in science and technology policy.

• Led public affairs and strategic communications in Kosovo to advance U.S. defense, sports diplomacy (Kosovo Olympics), and economic goals, including shaping the country’s first U.S.-supported cybersecurity strategy. • Planned and executed Ambassador's media and cultural outreach, drafted speeches and social media content to create U.S. impact and influence. • Supported the development of Innovation Hubs. Engaged Kosovan youth in STEM/coding for workforce development, esp. minority communities (Goranis, Ashkelis, etc). • Advanced Foreign Military Sales (Javelins), strengthening NATO’s regional defense posture. • Represented Embassy/Ambassador at high level Cultural, University, Science & technology and academic events as keynote speaker.

Political-Military Affairs Officer/BIOT Treaty Negotiator | Sep 2023 – Jun 2024 • Oversaw Foreign Military Sales ($40.5 billion) to NATO allies, ensuring governance and ITAR/export controls compliance with U.S. defense strategy. (e.g. advanced F-35 deals to Denmark, negotiated ammunition and Javelins sales to EU countries). • Negotiated renewal of the Diego Garcia base treaty with the UK, preserving critical U.S.-UK operational rights for 99 years--preserving the national security-critical base. Coordinated with NSC, AFRICOM, INDOPACOM, British embassy in Washington, US embassy Mauritius, and GCHQ and FCDO. • Built consensus among EU defense ministers to expand joint defense procurement and strengthen trans-Atlantic defense industry cooperation. • Architected the "whole of government" messaging and media-relations strategy for seamless BIOT treaty negotiations to save Diego Garcia. A huge win. • Led several pol-military dialogues with EU defense ministers on Ukraine defense-industrial base and organized biggest Pol-Mil dialogue with the UK to discuss 14 overseas territories collab. • Led strategic advocacy with Congress (Senate and House) on Serbia-Kosovo border disputes, foreign military sales/defense cooperation issues, and countered disinformation through timely media strategy.

Managed external communications and stakeholder engagement supporting $40.5B in Foreign Military Sales across NATO allies. Developed strategic messaging for high-visibility defense agreements and treaty renewals impacting U.S.–UK basing rights and NATO posture. Advised senior leadership on global messaging strategy across European defense and security ecosystems.

—Managed all aspects of U.S. Consulate General operations focused on five Northern German States (population size of Austria—16 million people) including managing Consulate personnel and leading USG efforts for commercial, energy, and public diplomacy (in conjunction with the Consul General or as Acting Consul General). —Advocated for U.S. businesses, and strengthened U.S.-German transatlantic relations through diplomatic engagement. —Managed crisis and supported U.S. citizens needs.

—Led media credentialing, accreditation, relationship building, and overall media engagement focused on journalists from South Asia, Central Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe including Russia. —Led foreign media engagement and credentialing of thousands of foreign journalists for two POTUS summits—Summit of the Americas and US-Africa Summit. —Orchestrated and designed powerful foreign press briefings to tell America’s story. Key briefings focused on U.S. foreign policy efforts on nuclear nonproliferation, cybersecurity, cybercrime, global health security, women’s issues, healthcare, racial justice/equity, and U.S. elections. —Organized foreign press briefings focused on the UN General Assembly and Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield’s press engagements at the USUN.

Led $250M global communications and counter-disinformation portfolio across Europe, Middle East, and Indo-Pacific regions. Developed enterprise-wide external communications strategy integrating analytics, narrative development, and cross-agency coordination. Implemented data-driven communications systems improving operational efficiency by 55% and accelerating decision timelines by 35%.

Directed government-wide external communications strategy addressing Iranian influence and disinformation campaigns. Briefed Congress and senior leadership on global narrative risk, reputation impacts, and strategic communications alignment. Coordinated messaging across intelligence, defense, and diplomatic communities for unified external positioning.

Developed global external communications campaigns countering PRC influence across 5G, COVID-19, and Indo-Pacific security narratives. Led enterprise governance and messaging oversight across public diplomacy programs ensuring consistency and reputational alignment. Supported executive communications strategy for senior Department leadership.

Led all external communications and media relations for U.S. Embassy operations, shaping public narrative across security assistance, economic development, and governance priorities. Directed messaging strategy for $75M U.S.-backed cybersecurity and defense initiatives. Served as senior spokesperson engaging international and local media on U.S. foreign policy objectives.

Served as chief external representative and spokesperson for major U.S. diplomatic mission (50-person organization). Led global communications strategy across government, industry, and media stakeholders in Germany’s $1T+ economy. Directed crisis communications and operational messaging during major facility transition and organizational change initiative. Built executive-level relationships with senior government and industry leaders to strengthen bilateral economic and technology positioning.

Led global media relations strategy for 300+ accredited international journalists covering U.S. foreign policy at the United Nations. Directed external communications for two Presidential summits focused on Africa and Latin America. Managed press strategy, messaging alignment, and media engagement with top-tier global outlets.

—Managed and supervised 10-25 counter-disinformation officers (including DoD, State, interagency detailees), Federal grants (multi-million dollars), contracts, and a milieu of government contractors to execute impactful counter-disinformation programs. —Designed and led impactful counter-disinformation programs to subdue Iranian and cross-malign actor disinformation around the globe. —Masterminded and led the first counter-Iran disinformation global strategy that helped dilute Kataib Hizballah, and other Iranian proxy groups disinformation/propaganda efforts including the Houthis. —Predicted fall of Afghanistan by leveraging AI and predictive analytics, served as early warning signal for U.S. Government. —Led counter-disinfo programs focused on Burma. —Conceptualized and co-drafted the Joint War-fighting Concept and Joint Concept for Competition. Advised Pentagon J7 on asymmetric warfare issues focusing on malign actors. —Led on execution and drafting of the first U.S.-UK counter-disinfo datasharing MOU. —Vastly improved processes, enhanced enterprise management to sync better with State Department, and prioritized professional development of staff. —Served as Vice President of the workforce morale council to enhance morale of a 200 person workforce. —Enhanced agility of the team to pivot to emerging threats and cautioned senior leadership on emerging threats including malign activity in Afghanistan (pre-collapse). —Maintained eye on disinformation tools (AI bots, ML) on tech platforms—worked collaboratively with Silicon Valley companies to stay abreast of social media disinfo trends. —Co-led the development of the Globally Integrated War Game (GIWG) series.

Served as senior U.S. external representative at international organizations (IMO/IMSO), shaping global maritime and security communications. Directed executive communications strategy for Presidential State Visit to the United Kingdom. Founded London Science Diplomacy Summit (4,000+ global stakeholders), establishing a long-term international communications platform. Led crisis communications coordination following high-profile geopolitical incidents (Salisbury Novichok attack).

- Represented the U.S. at IMO and IMSO, negotiating maritime, defense, and space treaties. - Rescued SpaceX’s Falcon 9 from Isles of Scilly after crash and repatriated sensitive parts to SpaceX. - Advocated for Iridium to gain market access to International Maritime Organization's 185 member states, resulting in millions of dollars worth of deals for Iridium. - Organized London Science Diplomacy Summit, engaging 4,000+ defense, space, economic, and science leaders. - Earned Diplomat of the Year (2017) for exceptional leadership in international diplomacy. - Led decontamination efforts of Novichek in Salisbury leveraging US military lab, and orchestrated Ambassador Johnson's visit to resuscitate the town’s economy. - Served as Director of Media Relations for President Trump's visit resulting in good media exposure during his first meeting with the Queen. - Predicted Brexit and drafted economic analysis cables to caution Washington re the impact of Brexit on the U.S. private sector and U.S.-UK shared foreign policy goals. - Organized Wildlife Trafficking Summit with Royal Society, orchestrated the biggest social conservation hackathons for oceans conservation and wildlife trafficking in collab with FBI and Scotland Yard. Gained recognition by British royalty-Prince Charles' Trust. - Lobbied with UK Parliamentarians to implement the first ivory ban legislation, a historic win. Gained Parliamentary recognition. - Co-organized first synthetic biology conference in collaboration with DARPA and Office of Naval Research. - Orchestrated the visits of NASA administrator and National Science Foundation Director and NASA Chief Scientist, as well as CITES Secretary General to advance Space, Science &Tech, and counter Wildlife Trafficking programs. - Orchestrated Ambassador Johnson's visit to the Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Engineering Prize awards. - Negotiated the first US-UK Science and Technology Treaty as chief negotiator. - Negotiated US-UK Space Ports Treaty.

Genetic engineering/ biotechnology curriculum Earned Silver award for purifying Fava bean DNA. Aim was to amplify the DNA to resolve world hunger concerns.

National debate Team. Charles Drew scholar