Alumnus Experiences Olympics as Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent

Alumnus Experiences Olympics as Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent

By Brian Hiro

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When Taylor Miller-Wing tells people what he does for a living, he often feels like he has initiated a game of 20 questions.

When, in February, the curious people asking those questions weren't random strangers but rather elite athletes who had just won medals in the most storied sporting competition on earth, Miller-Wing knew that this was the assignment of his dreams.

That assignment: protecting members of Team USA during the recent Winter Olympics in Italy as a special agent with the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service(DSS).

"It was a great experience," said Miller-Wing, who graduated from Cal State San Marcos in 2022. "I lucked out. It was like winning the lottery."

The DSS dispatches agents to many major international sporting events, and the Olympics opportunity came about only two years after Miller-Wing started working for the agency. One of a few agents chosen from the DSS Boston Field Office, he flew to Milan in early February for initial security briefings before making the trip to the Alps resort town of Cortina, where he was stationed for the rest of the Winter Games.

Miller-Wing was responsible for the Olympic Village that housed the athletes, and he also served as a flex agent, filling in for colleagues at competition venues after they had worked particularly long days. In that capacity, he spent considerable time at the curling center, where a highlight was watching Cory Thiesse become the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in curling as part of her second-place finish (with Korey Dropkin) in mixed doubles.

"I knew absolutely nothing about curling and then, in the Olympics, I think I saw almost 20 full curling matches," Miller-Wing said. "I now feel relatively confident in being able to explain the rules and strategy. Just enough to be a Monday morning quarterback at the Games."

Other memorable moments from Miller-Wing's Olympic fortnight was seeing the famous Jamaican bobsled team - "that was on the bucket list" - and meeting U.S. star skiers Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn. After the Games ended and he was off the clock, he extended his time in Italy by exploring the country with his wife.

It all added up to an unforgettable experience in which the competition in the athletic venues was counterbalanced by camaraderie outside of them.

"All the athletes were phenomenal," he said. "It didn't matter if they had just won a medal or if they were really focused on a competition - they always greeted everyone with a smile.

"And working with the other countries was a pleasant surprise. It really reminded me of what we do in diplomatic security, in our normal job, which is working with other nations to enable the diplomats to focus on their job overseas."

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The Olympics have ended, but Miller-Wing's fulfilling work with the Diplomatic Security Service continues. The law enforcement and security arm of the State Department, the DSS creates a safe environment for the conduct of U.S. foreign policy by protecting the department's people, property and information. The DSS has the largest global presence of any U.S. law enforcement organization, operating at more than 275 American diplomatic posts in over 170 countries and more than 30 U.S. cities. Miller-Wing is among more than 2,500 Foreign Service specialists working and traveling worldwide (DSS agents are both sworn law enforcement officers and members of the Foreign Service).

A Carlsbad native, Miller-Wing was raised by a mother who worked for the federal government. In fact, her being reassigned is why the family left the San Diego area for Northern California. He was a standout quarterback at Folsom High School outside Sacramento and aspired to play college football, but a shoulder injury sustained at the local community college short-circuited his gridiron goals.

Unsure what to do next, Miller-Wing decided to join the U.S. Army in 2017. After switching over to the Army Reserve, he jumped at an opportunity to return to his hometown as a member of the 416^th Civil Affairs Battalion out of Camp Pendleton.

During his time with that battalion, Miller-Wing had occasion to go overseas and work with DSS agents, many of whom serve as regional security officers at diplomatic posts around the world. He thought the job sounded ideal for him, but he assumed that RSOs were political officers who specialize in national security.

"My mom was working at an embassy, and she said, 'Hey, did you know that the State Department has special agents?' " Miller-Wing recalled. "So I looked into it, and I realized that this is exactly what I want to do."

With that career track firmly in mind, Miller-Wing set out to revisit higher education. He earned an associate degree at Palomar College before transferring to CSUSM in 2019, six years after he had finished high school. He majored in global studies, receiving particular help along the way from political science professor Meshack Simati.

"The biggest thing that I feared was going back as an adult with a full-time job and responsibilities where I had to take care of things that you don't have to worry about when you're 18," he said. "But CSUSM was accommodating, all the professors were accommodating. And the environment was such that they focused on setting us up to be professionals in the future, not just college graduates. It was unique."

Miller-Wing started applying for the DSS program almost as soon as he earned his CSUSM degree in May 2022, and he was a special agent stationed in Boston less than two years later. Besides Italy, he has traveled on official business to four other countries, and he hopes that his next posting will be in a foreign nation.

"I've worked a lot of jobs in the private and public sector, and this is by far the most rewarding," Miller-Wing said. "One day you could be on a high-value target warrant, the next you could be on the foreign minister's detail in Bahrain, the next you could be in Italy at the Olympics. Every single day is different.

"It's definitely a different life experience than most people, but if you like to travel and want to experience different cultures, then I highly recommend it."

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