Biography
Regional Security Officer – Tony Hornik-Tran
Updated: December 2017
Tony has been the Regional Security Officer (RSO) for American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) since July 2016. He joined the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service as a Special Agent in 2002. Previously, from 2012 to 2015, he served as the RSO at U.S. Embassy Bratislava, Slovakia. From 2010 to 2012, he was the Desk Officer for East Asian Pacific Affairs (EAP) Region in the Diplomatic Security International Programs Directorate (DS/IP/RD) who was responsible for Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Papua Guinea, New Zealand, Philippines, the Pacific Islands, and Vietnam. From 2007 to 2010, he was the ARSO/Investigator (ARSO/I) for U.S. Consulate General Shanghai, China. From 2004 to 2006, he was the Assistant Regional Security Officer (ARSO) for U.S. Embassy Luanda, Angola. Tony also supported overseas in RSO capacities in Sana’a, Yemen; Windhoek, Namibia; Chengdu, China; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. From 2003 to 2004, he served in the New York Field Office (NYFO).
Prior to Diplomatic Security Service, Tony spent six years with the San Jose Police Department in San Jose, California. Before that, he spent six years with various international/domestic non-governmental organizations, including three years working with the Southeast Asian and Amerasian refugees as an International Bilingual Caseworker in the Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC) in Bataan, Philippines, where he used to be a former refugee in 1982.
Tony was born in Vietnam and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. He is also an alumnus from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He speaks several languages, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Slovak, and very limited French and Tagalog. Tony is a recipient of multiple Department of State Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards.
