Operations Officer, U.S. Department of Defense
Liliana Besosa is an Operations Officer within the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington, DC, where she develops strategic partnerships in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this role, she coordinates and manages security cooperation seminars that improve more than thirty partner nations’ capacities to combat illicit networks, transnational threats, and bolster cybersecurity. Liliana also publishes reports in English and Spanish on counter-narcotic operations and drug trafficking network trends in the Western Hemisphere. Liliana earned her bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of St. Andrews and the College of William & Mary. She complemented this by acquiring her M.A. in security studies from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service in 2021 and participated in Germany’s Transatlantic Study Program in 2023. As a proud Boricua native of Puerto Rico, Liliana enjoys experimenting with foreign dish recipes and teaching non-native English-speaking children in her community how to read.