INSIDE JOB: A Life in Security

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March 2005; Vol. 1 No. 1

INSIDE JOB: A Life in Security

By Kevin McCaney

The many facets of managing security at the Agency for International Development seem to come naturally to Carmen S. Talavera.

At AID's offices in Washington, she handles physical security and cybersecurity. She also travels several times a year to southern Africa, where she oversees security for AID missions in 10 countries, inspecting and designing security systems, and providing training. Last fall, Talavera, a senior security specialist, did the same kind of work in Baghdad, Iraq.



Carmen S. Talavera

"My approach to security is to place myself in the shoes of my clients to examine issues from their perspective," she said, "to look at the fish bowl from the inside and outside."

And when need be, she pitches in as a translator in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian¢®¨£the latter two languages she learned in the Connecticut neighborhood where she grew up after being born in Puerto Rico.

Her early multicultural environment helped prepare her for the road ahead. She joined the Air Force in 1974, learned to fly--something she has continued to do--and worked in air transportation in Japan, among other places.

She later settled in Portland, Ore., and went to work in security for the General Services Administration. "I've been attracted to nontraditional fields all my life," Talavera said.

About 3 1⁄2 years ago, she followed her two now-grown daughters to the East Coast, taking the job with AID. She arrived two weeks after Sept. 11, 2001. The terrorist attacks that day, together with the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, boosted the importance and range of security work, she said. But that's a natural fit for Talavera.

"I feel I'm blessed--I love my job," she said, acknowledging a seeming paradox: "Security has opened a lot of doors for me."