Strategic Workforce Programs
Mr. Saul Bracero joined DSCA in September 2011 and has held multiple positions within the Agency.
Currently, he serves as the Deputy Assistant Director for Strategic Workforce Programs within the
Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU). He previously served as DSCU’s acting Provost, Deputy
Assistant Director for Enterprise Support, and Team Lead for the Security Cooperation Organization
(SCO) Management team. The Strategic Workforce Programs Directorate oversees the implementation
of a Congressionally mandated Security Cooperation Workforce Development Programs (SCWDP) and
the SCO Management Reform Initiative. The SCWDP was established in 2017 to improve the
professionalization of the Security Cooperation Workforce enterprise through enhanced training and
education, creation of new workforce management incentives, and determining the appropriate size
and composition of the SC workforce. The SCO Reform Initiative aims to enhance DSCA funded
management functions of SCOs operating in 159 U.S. Embassies. Before this assignment, Saul was the
Institutional Capacity Building Division Chief, where he transformed how the Department delivers nonmaterial security
cooperation assistance to global security partners through the implementation of
strategic international advising, education and training programs, defense institution building, and the
DoD Regional Center enterprise. While serving as the Africa Center for Strategic Studies Chief of Staff,
he oversaw operational program management functions of an academic institution supporting National
level strategic priorities for Africa.
He brings over 30 years of leadership; policy development; security cooperation; intelligence analysis;
and humanitarian, peacekeeping, and operational experience. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2013
after 26 years of active duty having served as a Sub-Saharan Africa Foreign Area and as a Military Police
Officer. His service included assignments culminating at the national policy level as well as operational
assignments in Germany, Cameroon, Iraq, Panama, and Cuba. In Iraq he served as the Iraqi Police
Transition Team Chief to assist the National Police improve community policing, rule of law, and law
enforcement operations. At the national strategic level, he served as the Director of East and Central
Africa in the Office of the Secretary of Defense working peacekeeping, intelligence sharing and fusion,
security cooperation, and counterterrorism. While assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency, Mr.
Bracero oversaw all Defense strategic intelligence analysis production for Africa directly supporting
national level intelligence consumers. While assigned to the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart
Germany, Mr. Bracero served as the security cooperation program manager for West and Central Africa
overseeing sensitive security cooperation projects to improve the capacity of several African countries
ability to respond and react to crisis. Earlier in his military career, Mr. Bracero held several key Military
Police positions with assignment and operational deployments to Germany, Panama, South Korea, and
Cuba.
Mr. Bracero holds a Master of Science degree in National Strategic Studies from the National War
College; a Master of Arts degree in International Relations and a Certificate of African Studies from the
University of Florida; and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Relations from Brigham Young
University; He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and Military
Police Officer Basic and Advance Courses.