Bailes joined the London
Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1969 as a Desk Officer for the Western European Department and in 1970 received her first international posting as a Desk Officer at the British Embassy in Budapest. She went on to speak at a press conference about the incident at the British embassy, then resumed her planned programme of meetings. From 2007 to 2015 she was an assistant professor at the
University of Iceland. She was a visiting professor at the
College of Europe from 2010 to 2015. and a fellow of the
Scottish Global Forum think tank. In addition she was a visiting professor to the
College of Europe, teaching a course in New Security Challenges and Security Governance. ==Death==