Paul R. Houston is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor and a special agent. Currently, he is a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) and Assistant Director of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) for Threat Investigations and Analysis (TIA). In this role, he manages all source information analysis and dissemination for the protection of U.S. government equities, interests, and personnel around the globe.
Mr. Houston’s past overseas assignments included managing law enforcement and security programs at U.S diplomatic missions in Germany, Jordan, Haiti, Serbia and at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Domestically, Mr. Houston served as the director of the DSS Office of Special Investigations— conducting criminal and administrative investigations for the U.S. Department of State— and as the deputy director of the DS Command Center, the 24/7 nexus of intelligence and threat dissemination, and crisis command and control for DS.
Mr. Houston received a bachelor of arts degree in political science and international business at the University of Iowa and a master’s degree in national security policy and international economics from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Houston served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a legislative assistant.
Mr. Houston attended the Senior Executive Leadership Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management; the National Security Executive Leadership Seminar (NSELS), the U.S. Department of State’s flagship interagency course; and the Senior Executive Threshold Seminar, the Foreign Service Institute’s Leadership and Management School. He is the recipient of multiple awards from the U.S. Department of State for special actions in service both domestic and abroad. Mr. Houston speaks German and Arabic.