‘Transformative and Impactful’ Career Inspired by Service Overseas
Supervisory Special Agent Julie Stansfield ’95 Cabus says it was her two-year Peace Corps experience in Gabon, Central Africa, that inspired her to continue working overseas. Working as a health educator and aiding in the fight against disease in the area, Cabus says her time there was transformative, and that the view of emerging nations — rich in natural resources but poor in basic essentials — was impactful.
Since then, her 25-year career with the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), which has the largest global reach of any U.S. law enforcement agency, has led her to serve in Afghanistan, Algeria, Australia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger and Pakistan. Her most recent high-threat assignment was as the senior regional security officer at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
Acknowledging there were times in her service where the situation was dire, she says she drew upon her time at Susquehanna. “Even if things seem hard, you will persevere.”
As deputy assistant secretary and assistant director for the DSS training directorate, Cabus oversees implementation of all security and law enforcement training programs and policies for the State Department, including those conducted at the DSS Foreign Affairs Security Training Center — the nation’s largest training facility dedicated to preparing the Foreign Service community to work safely overseas. Her directorate also includes the Office of Antiterrorism Assistance, the Office of Mobile Security Deployments, and the Office of Technical Security Engineering.
Day-to-day, Cabus is responsible for budgeting roughly $500 million and supervising about 900 people, both stateside and internationally. Along with this, she oversees the training of roughly 10,000 students annually. Ranging from inside the State Department to several foreign affairs agencies, she is responsible for shaping those who will lead us in the future.
In 2007, Cabus graduated from Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Quantico, Virginia, with her master’s degree in military studies. At Susquehanna, Cabus majored in political science, and says her professors Gene Urey, James Blessing and Bruce Evans were “nothing short of amazing.” She credits much of her success to them.
