Olivia Troye is a national security expert and national media commentator. No stranger to challenging roles, she has served as Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to the Vice President of the United States and in several leadership and advisory roles at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community (at the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Department of Energy), and the Department of Defense (DOD) where she was a political appointee under President George W. Bush. Troye has managed complex policy development, decisions, and responses to large-scale crisis events, including the COVID-19 pandemic. She has also led security-related technology projects in the private sector and assisted Fortune 500 companies in navigating operational security challenges overseas across the Middle East and North Africa.

Troye was also recently named to lead the 97Percent Foundation, whose mission is to reduce gun deaths by including gun owners in the solutions. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, the National Defense University’s College of International Security Affairs, and the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. Troye was raised in El Paso, Texas, and although she resides in and has spent most of her career traveling in and out of Washington, DC, she still refers to El Paso as “home.”

Troye briefed National Press Foundation fellows in November 2024: ‘Extreme Measures’: What Trump 2.0 Means for Immigration, DHS.