Denny Williams DS Luncheon

The "Denny Williams DS Luncheon" is a biannual event hosted by the Diplomatic Security Special Agents Association (DSSAA) and named in honor of Denny Williams, one of the founders of the DS Alumni Luncheon and the driving force behind it for years.  In 2019, DSSAA was asked to adopt the DS Alumni Luncheon as part of its regular event schedule. 

The DSSAA Board agreed, yet wanted to make the luncheon a special event and reshape it going forward.  The DS Alumni Luncheon was renamed the "Denny Williams DS Luncheon" and instead of focusing only on DS alumni, it is open to all current and retired DS employees.

Date and Time:

Friday, November 15th 2019

1100 - 1400 (Lunch served at 1130)

Location:

Maggiano's Tyson's Corner

(Upstairs, Private Dining)

2001 International Drive, McLean , VA 22102

Tickets:

-Tickets are very limited and can only be purchased in advance

-No tickets will be sold at the door or day of the event

-Tickets are $27.00 + Tax

-Ticket sales end Sunday, November 10th 2019.

-All tickets will be mailed on November 11th or earlier

-Click here for tickets or the bottom of this page

Dress Code:

Business Casual

Slacks with a collard/button down shirt for men, equivalent for women.

Lunch Menu (Family Style):

Caesar Salad

Four-Cheese Ravioli Fritt’e

Classic Bruschetta with balsamic glaze on the side

Gnocchi and Italian Sausage

Chicken Saltimbocca

Braised Beef Contadina

Fresh Grilled Asparagus

Apple Crostata

Chocolate Zuccotto Cake

Soft-Drinks, Ice-Tea, and Lemonade (Cash-Bar downstairs)

Dennis "Denny" Williams:

Denny was born in 1946 in Freeport, Illinois, to Ken and Eva Williams. He left Freeport in 1964 to attend North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. At college, he studied political science and history, and met his wife Terri. This then led to a lifetime of travel and adventure, first with the US Army in Japan, then with the US State Department in its Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

As diplomats, the family lived in Japan, Jamaica, and Cairo, Egypt, along with many overseas trips. When back in the US, the family lived in the Washington DC area, which is where they call "home" today. Denny had a long career with the State Department, serving as a Regional Security Officer when overseas, and then in various positions when stateside. 

He ran dignitary protection operations for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, the UN General Assembly in New York, and the restoration of Ferdinand Aristide to Haiti in 1994. He has met numerous dignitaries and luminaries in these engagements, including Jimmy Carter, Prince Charles, British Foreign Minister Pym, Yassir Arafat, and Imelda Marcos, to name a few. He was the target of an assassination attempt in Cairo and was shot twice while protecting the lives of his two colleagues, for which he received the State Department's Award for Valor. In less-adventurous roles, he oversaw overseas operations for the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and came out of retirement to deploy a worldwide network linking all 270 embassies' physical security systems into an integrated system.

He then went on to oversee the re-design of the Bureau's central command center in Rosslyn, Virginia, into a state-of-the-art facility supporting all worldwide operations and giving the State Department unprecedented situational awareness into the security and protection of its personnel overseas. At the same time as this, he taught courses in security and Analytical Risk Management to students in the State Department and other agencies, as well as students at American University.

For fun, he and Terri loved to travel. They explored all over the world together, with special attention to Europe and the Caribbean. On their last trip together, they traveled the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They also loved to SCUBA dive and sail on the Chesapeake Bay.