Christian J. Schurman was named Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Assistant Director for International Programs on September 15, 2014. Mr. Schurman is responsible for evaluating, managing, and mitigating security threats to, as well as the direction of resources for, more than 240 diplomatic posts within the International Programs Directorate.

A Diplomatic Security (DS) Special Agent with 27 years of service, Mr. Schurman was promoted to the rank of Minister Counselor in April 2014.

He was previously the Regional Security Officer in Tel Aviv, Israel from August 2011 to August 2014. Prior to his service in Israel, Mr. Schurman was the Director of the Office of Overseas Protective Operations, where he managed a budget of nearly $2 billion and was responsible for global management of DS’s local guard, residential security, surveillance detection and personal protective security programs.

Domestically, Mr. Schurman has served as Executive Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security, Chief of DS’s Criminal Investigations Division, and a member of the Secretary of State’s protective detail. He also has served overseas as the Regional Security Officer in Accra, Nicosia and Tunis, and as Assistant Regional Security Officer in Bangkok.

Mr. Schurman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from The Ohio State University and a Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He has received several Department of State Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards as well as Senior Performance Awards.