Oana Lungescu is the longest serving NATO Spokesperson (2010-2023), and the first woman and first journalist to hold the post. She directed alliance communications during the most turbulent period in a generation, providing strategic advice to two Secretaries General – Jens Stoltenberg and Anders Fogh Rasmussen. As the official responsible for NATO’s public messaging and chief speechwriter, she played a critical role in NATO’s approach to Russia and China, the accession of Finland and Sweden, and operations from the Western Balkans to Afghanistan and Libya. She coordinated NATO’s 24/7 media operations, directed all media aspects of NATO summits, and engaged with media around the world. She was awarded a NATO Meritorious Service Medal in 2023.

She joined NATO after working for 25 years at the BBC World Service, where she covered EU and NATO affairs for radio, television, and online in several languages. A German national, she was born in Romania under communism and joined the BBC’s Romanian Service in 1985. As European affairs correspondent in Brussels and Berlin, she reported widely across the continent, focusing on EU and NATO enlargement, the economic crisis, and migration.