Advisory Board

Daniel O’Connor

Advisory Board Member
Political Science and International Relations

Newark, DE 19716

Biography

Daniel B. O’Connor recently retired after a 28-year federal career which included 20 years as a Foreign Service officer.  During his career in the Foreign Service he served in a wide variety of domestic and international postings.  His final assignment was as the Special Assistant in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. Mr. O’Connor entered the Foreign Service in 2001 and is a political cone officer. He started his career as the desk officer for Jamaica and The Bahamas before becoming a vice consul at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2004-2006).  From that posting he was appointed as the Political/Economic Chief and Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, The Bahamas (2006-2008).  From August 2008 to July 2011 he served in Washington, DC in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor focusing on multilateral issues as well as asylum policy.  Returning overseas, he was appointed the Deputy Political Counselor at U.S. Embassy Panama with responsibility for political-security affairs from July 2011-July 2014.  He moved back to Washington DC in 2014 and worked in the Bureau of International Security and Non-Proliferation, where he served as the country officer for Central Asian issues until August 2017. From 2017 to 2018 he worked as a Pearson Fellow in the office of Senator Cory A. Booker (D-NJ).  As part of the Senator’s foreign policy and defense team, he worked on wide range of issues including immigration reform, Latin American human rights, and the Nuclear Posture Review.  From 2018 to 2021 Mr. O’Connor served as an Intelligence Analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research covering Colombia and Ecuador.Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. O’Connor was a Presidential Management Intern at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1994-96) and subsequently at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1996-2001).Mr. O’Connor received a Ph.D. from The American University in 1997 and a B.A. from the University of Delaware in 1988.  Highlights of his time at Delaware include Winter Session 1987 in Geneva, Switzerland and working with Dr. James Oliver and Dr. Mark Miller on his senior thesis.?