After nearly four decades, the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service’s (DSS) Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) had outgrown its original enacting legislation and needed a comprehensive makeover to continue fulfilling its mission of supporting American private sector security issues abroad.
Into the breach stepped Center for Homeland Defense and Security Executive Leaders Program participant Marco Ayub, who was assigned in September 2023 to take on the massive and complex task by DSS Director Carlos Matus for whom Ayub (ELP cohort 2401) serves as Chief of Staff and Special Advisor.
By November last year, after a year of what Matus called “hard, in-the-the trenches” work that “few dare to take on,” a formal signing ceremony officially transformed the newly christened Overseas Security Alliance Council from a more restrictive federal advisory committee to a more agile and creative public-private partnership
Meanwhile, Ayub credited his CHDS ELP cohort with helping guide him along the way in his work on the key initiative.
Subsequently, Ayub was nominated for a Superior Honor citation by Matus, who said Ayub “deserves all the recognition” and should be recognized for his “indispensable role in dissolving OSAC’s Federal Advisory Committee framework and creating a true public-private partnership that will serve diplomatic security and OSAC into the future.”
In his recommendation, Matus recounted the history of OSAC, which was created in 1985 by Secretary of State George P. Shultz, and its evolution over the decades into an organization that had exceeded the “formalities of the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act (FAC), which was rigidly prescriptive about what business could be conducted between the government and the private sector and what could not. The bottom line was that if the topic of focus deviated in any way from security, it could not be discussed. In fact, for years OSAC had been operating more like a true public-private-partnership (PPP), where security issues overlapped and intersected with human resource, DEIA, governance, and oversight. It was time to dissolve the (OSAC) FAC.”
Matus wrote that as his Chief of Staff, Ayub “was in the perfect position to undertake the massive bureaucratic task that would otherwise seriously interfere and disrupt day-to-day OSAC operations,” and noted that over the next year he conducted “intense research into the intricacies and legalities of the FAC as well as dos and don’ts,” consulted with the current and former OSAC Executive Directors to “better understand the historical need and evolution of OSAC programming”, carefully “tip-toed through the legal complexities” involved, fought through bureaucratic wrangling, and created and drafted “seminal” documents that would form the basis of the organizational transition including an agreement between the Department of State and The Security Foundation (TSF), a 501 (c) non-profit organization that funds critical OSAC and DSAC programming, an agreement between the Department of State and Chief Security Officers for the World Conservation Society and Elevance Health, and dissolution of the OSAC FAC.
Finally, Matus noted that Ayub set up a formal signing ceremony during the first day of the OSAC Annual Briefing on Nov. 12 last year.
In the end, Matus said that Ayub had “single-handedly planned, researched, designed, and executed an ambitious plan that—at first—seemed to have little chance to succeed given the constraints and limitations. Through focus, patience, and persistence, though, he overcame each challenge and obstacle, always mindful of the guiding regulations, and kept trudging through the plan. Just as he developed key relationships with the private sector, department lawyers, and others, earning their trust and confidence while keeping DS’ interests in front, he stood his ground and challenged opinions, questioned courses of action, and offered his own. Eventually, through the inclusive and meticulous process, [Ayub] built a solid team focused on one goal and unanimous consensus with the group and sub-groups. In the end, working with the OSAC program office, he drafted, edited, and approved, the PPP foundational documents that would lead OSAC into the future.”
For his part, Ayub lauded the work he did at CHDS in consultation with fellow ELP participants in his own cohort who are working in private industry security, including The Walt Disney Company Senior Global Security Manager Melvin Patterson and Airbnb Senior Global Threat Assessment & Special Investigations Program Manager Michael McCausland, who Ayub noted had a long history of working with the DSS and the OSAC, and provided valuable perspectives that helped in drafting key agreements at the heart of the new partnership.
According to Ayub, the private sector “is very excited to operate under this new framework” and they understand that it’s going to “encourage creativity, allows for the exploration of new common interests, and allows for a lot more freedom.”
“It really truly now is a partnership,” he said.
Ayub said he has gotten more from his CHDS education than he expected and has an “incredible appreciation” for the educational institution and its programs, and intends to continue participating as an alumni after he graduates.
