Appointment of Director of National Security

Belmopan. March 24, 2022. 3:15 p.m.

The Office of the Prime Minister announces the appointment of Ambassador Oliver del Cid as Director of National Security and head of the National Security Directorate, formerly the National Security Council Secretariat.

Ambassador del Cid is a career public officer with more than 25 years of service. He has served as a Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a diplomat at the Embassy of Belize in Guatemala, Deputy National Security Coordinator, Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico, non-resident High Commissioner to Jamaica, non-resident Ambassador to Haiti, and most recently as Inspector General in the Ministry of National Defence and Border Security. Ambassador del Cid holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Texas State University and a master’s degree in International Policy and Diplomacy from Staffordshire University. As a Chevening Scholar, he attended the University of Oxford’s Foreign Service Programme and has also undertaken training in various national security disciplines over the years.

The placement of the National Security Directorate under the Office of the Prime Minister and the appointment of a director, the first in more than 20 years, underscores the attention that the Office of the Prime Minister intends to give to national security matters as the country faces existing and emerging security challenges by taking an all-of-government approach through interagency coordination.

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