Photo By Christopher Gillis | QUANTICO, Va. - Dr. Stacey Dixon, Principal Deputy Director for National Intelligence,...... read more read more
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QUANTICO, Va. – How does the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) – the security executive agent for national security clearances – view the implementation of Trusted Workforce (TW) 2.0 and its importance to national security?
It was one of many questions Dr. Stacey Dixon, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, contemplated at a ‘fireside chat’ with Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) employees during a visit to the headquarters in May. The ‘chat,’ held in person and broadcast to the wider agency, included an audience of background investigators and adjudicators who will be directly affected by the new personnel security regimen.
The moderator’s second question quickly followed: How do you see DCSA's role in TW 2.0 in the future?
The audience didn’t have to wait long for enlightening and encouraging answers. Dixon responded in thoughtful measured fashion to questions on TW 2.0 and about a dozen inquiries ranging from her views on diversity and inclusion to how the Intelligence Community is adjusting to deal with current threats.
“We now have tools and capabilities in the form of technology that can help us. It's necessary that we make these investments,” said Dixon, regarding the TW 2.0 reform effort that transforms the personnel vetting process and realigns it as one, government-wide system to enhance security while allowing reciprocity across organizations. “What we've been able to do so far is very good – there's a lot more people enrolled in the Intelligence Community as well as other parts of government and DOD in systems that are really helping us transition from the periodic reinvestigation cycle to continuous vetting.”
The continuous vetting within TW 2.0 will fully replace periodic reinvestigations by employing a full suite of automated record checks, time and event-triggered activities, and analysis of agency-specific information through the National Background Investigative Services (NBIS).
“For the future - we just need to continue our ability to adapt,” said Dixon. “We must get systems to move faster and that often means acquiring assistance and data while bringing people onboard – we need to do it rapidly, which is why a lot of the activities you are impacting are part of the Trusted Workforce 2.0 effort to redo and rethink personnel vetting. It’s so important.”
PDDNI, in her Performance Accountability Council (PAC) security executive agent role, is one of the principals continuously advising DCSA on Trusted Workforce plans and policies. “As a PAC principal, we keep up with what Trusted Workforce 2.0 and DCSA is doing for the community,” said Dixon regarding the role of PAC, which includes the Office of Personnel Management director as the suitability and credentialing executive agent, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, and the Office of Management and Budget’s deputy director for management as principal members. Their guidance and collaboration with DCSA resulted in the risk-reducing phased approach of TW 1.25 and TW 1.5 as the TW 2.0 personnel reform effort is implemented government-wide, overhauling personnel vetting and benefitting many of those who are vetted in the process.
“We are moving towards TW 2.0 from every level, and I love the way we're talking about it now – reciprocity of the transfer of trust enabling efficient employment changes between organizations. It's the right conversation to be having and the role that you are all going to play and are playing to develop this system and roll it out is extremely important.”
Dixon was also asked her views on how the ODNI has evolved since its establishment in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as well as where she sees the organization going in the next 20 years.
“The 9-11 Commission said that the U.S. Government had gaps in the sharing of information,” Dixon recounted. “We had seams between domestic and international systems. Information that resided in different places could have helped us thwart those attacks, and at that time, those individuals weren't talking to each other. Information was not being made available to do something about it – that is why ODNI was created.”
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 established ODNI and since it began operating in 2005, the agency has led the Intelligence Community in intelligence integration to enable delivery of the most insightful intelligence possible.
“We are helping to integrate intelligence across all the different communities by developing information for policymakers that is better – more coherent, insightful, timely, relevant and accurate,” said Dixon. “In the next 17 years, we will continue with that integration mission and mantra.”
The former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) deputy director – a 2022 Wash100 Award winner for her leadership at NGA and ODNI to drive innovation for the Intelligence Community in geospatial intelligence capabilities, commercial remote sensing satellites, and a comprehensive science and technology strategy – cautioned that times have changed since ODNI’s origin. “It’s not likely that the same problem regarding the lack of interoperability and information sharing will reoccur. We figured out how to prevent some of those things from happening again. However, we have a new challenge: How do we figure out how to prevent the next one?”
ODNI is responding to that challenge by continually working on ways to prevent any potential attack against the United States by doing things that no one agency could do on its own, such as integrating the archipelago of information technology infrastructures into a single Intelligence Community IT enterprise and addressing whole-of-government strategic operational planning and information sharing to counter terrorism.
“It isn't so much that you've got agencies holding data that they're not sharing with each other,” said Dixon. “Now, there is so much data out there that information is hidden in the data that you need to tease out. So, our intelligence integration mission continues at a different level, on a different scale. One of the things that is really good is our collaborative approach. There is no big stick at ODNI. A lot of what we do is due to coalitions of the willing.”
Dixon emphasized that diversity is vital to successful coalitions and collaboration at ODNI and across the Intelligence Community.
“Mission success is doing what needs to be done to keep this country safe – providing the policymakers with the information and intelligence they need to make good policy that helps move forward the interests of the U.S. and our allies,” said Dixon. “In order to do so, we need to understand more of the world. We need diverse perspectives brought to the table so we can continue to innovate and bring forth new and great ideas that are going to help us to collect and analyze that information better.”
The integration and analysis of information from myriad perspectives are key to ODNI’s ability to ensure national policymakers receive timely and accurate analysis from the Intelligence Community to make educated decisions.
“That's what success looks like – the ability to achieve our mission in a way that keeps us ahead of our adversaries and keeps us in our place in the world as leaders,” said Dixon. “We will continue to change with people at the table who have different backgrounds, upbringings, and ways of thinking about problems. We need that because the challenges will continue to keep coming at us. Future challenges will be more complex, and we must continue to generate great ideas. To me, success is having all those ideas at the table, and we must not be afraid to bring them up – to share them and know they will be valued, no matter where they’re from or what they look like. That’s what success looks like.”
The PDDNI’s visit began as DCSA Director William Lietzau and Deputy Director Daniel Lecce joined the agency’s mission leaders to brief Dixon on DCSA and its mission centers: Industrial Security, Counterintelligence, Personnel Vetting, National Background Investigative Services, and the DCSA Program Executive Office with its portfolio of enterprise-wide IT programs to better serve DOD, government, and cleared industry.
| Date Taken: | 05.23.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.23.2022 16:55 |
| Story ID: | 421332 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 349 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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