Registration: You must be a member of SIA to register for this Event.

Laura E. Cressey   
Director, Office of Regional Security and Arms Transfers  
Bureau of Political Military Affairs   
U.S. Department of State

Laura Cressey, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the Director of the Office of Regional Security and Arms Transfers in the State Department’s Bureau of Political Military Affairs.  She joined the office in 2013, serving as Team Lead for Europe and Western Hemisphere, Deputy Director, and Acting Director until she was appointed Director in 2021.  She is responsible for overseeing in excess of $50 billion in annual worldwide arms transfers; developing global and country- and technology-specific arms transfer policies; managing global regional security issues; and conducting multiple political-military dialogues around the world.  She has been the Bureau lead on strengthening and improving partnerships with U.S. industry to advance foreign policy and national security goals. 

For ten years, Laura worked on nonproliferation issues in the Department of State.  As the Deputy Director for the Office of Chemical, Biological, and Missile Nonproliferation, she was in charge of U.S. chemical and biological weapons nonproliferation policy and related export controls. Laura joined the Department of State as a Presidential Management Intern in 1992. 

Laura worked in the private sector for Booz Allen Hamilton, consulting on a variety of defense and intelligence issues, and for Georgetown University advising graduate students on careers in the international sector.  Her book, Careers in International Affairs, 9^th edition, was published in 2014.  She received her M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a B.A. in International Affairs and History from Tufts University.  She resides in Northern Virginia and has two daughters.