Paula A. DeSutter

Paula Adamo DeSutter (born 1958) was United States Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation from 2002 to 2009.

DeSutter was educated at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, receiving a B.A. in political science in 1979, and an M.A. in economics in 1983. She then attended the University of Southern California and received an M.A. in international relations.

While at USC, DeSutter was a graduate intern for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. (ACDA) She joined ACDA's Verification and Intelligence Bureau after graduate school. DeSutter was first a foreign affairs specialist, then chief of the Compliance and Implementation Division, and finally special assistant for verification and compliance to the assistant director for intelligence and verification.

Desutter was then chosen to represent the ACDA at the National War College, from which she received an M.S. in national security strategy. She then spent a year at the National Defense University as a senior visiting research fellow at its Center for Counter-Proliferation Research.

In the late 1990s, DeSutter joined the staff of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. There she was the staff liaison to Senator Jon Kyl and was responsible for legislation and oversight of intelligence collection, analysis and activities related to proliferation, terrorism, arms control, the Persian Gulf States, India, Pakistan, China, and Afghanistan.

In 2002, President of the United States George W. Bush appointed DeSutter as the first-ever assistant secretary of state for verification, compliance, and implementation. After Senate confirmation, she held this office from August 14, 2002, until January 16, 2009.