Photo By Quinetta Budd | ARLINGTON, Va. – Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) Director...... read more read more
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ARLINGTON, Va. – Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) leaders placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of the agency’s 50th anniversary of support to national security during a May 1 ceremony.
Moreover, the official party – DCSA Director William Lietzau; Chief of Staff Ellen Ardrey; Employee of the year Mike Benner; and Jeffrey Flora, one of the longest serving members of the agency – honored leaders of DCSA predecessor organizations responsible for background investigations and industrial security at two more gravesites.
After placing the wreath at the Tomb, DCSA employees walked to the gravesite of Air Force Col. James Cogswell – the nation’s first Director of the Unified Office of Industrial Security – who helped lay the foundations of the National Industrial Security Program. Lietzau and Ardrey placed flowers in front of the headstone.
“It’s an honor to be here and recognize this (DCSA’s 50th anniversary) for the whole agency. Not everyone in the cemetery died in combat,” said Lietzau at the ceremony held at Cogswell’s gravesite. “They all served in a significant way and in some ways, Col. Cogswell represents the perfect combination of those (who died in combat or otherwise). He understood what happens when things don’t go well in combat, but he also completely understood – as the first Chief of the Industrial Security office – what happens in-between those punctuation marks (between conflicts and wars) in our history is what really determines the future of this country.”
The Cogswell Award – established in 1966 and presented annually to cleared facilities with exceptional security programs -- – is named for Cogswell and honors his emphasis on the true partnership between industry and government to ensure the protection of classified information, materials and programs.
DCSA employees held another ceremony at the gravesite of Air Force Brig. Gen. Joseph Cappucci, the first Director of the Defense Investigative Service (DIS), where DCSA Employee Council co-chair Andrea Brett and council member Allison Mayes placed flowers in front of the headstone.
"He brought Background Investigations (BI) into our mission set and consolidated among the military services that were doing BI at the time,” said Lietzau at the gravesite ceremony. “If you think about what we did with the new name of DCSA – we consolidated it all for the whole U.S. government. I have no question that would have been absolutely consistent with Gen. Cappucci’s vision."
In effect, DCSA is recognizing two anniversaries in fiscal year 2023 thanks to a Secretary of Defense memorandum issued more than 50 years ago.
The memorandum signed by Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird established the Defense Investigative Service, which became operational on Oct. 1, 1972. DOD Directive 5105.42 designated DIS as a separate operating agency under the direction of the Secretary of Defense.
That 1972 DOD directive — authorizing a workforce of 1,750 military personnel and 1,250 government civilians to conduct all DOD personnel security investigations – has retained its unbroken authority over the course of 50 years as DIS was renamed the Defense Security Service in 1999 and eventually consolidated with other organizations and renamed DCSA in 2019.
Hence, the agency celebrates 50 years of service while recognizing that DCSA achieved its third anniversary in October of 2022.
After a half century, the agency not only retains the same charter in its evolution from DIS to DSS to DCSA, it is still responsible to the nation as its Gatekeeper for personnel security and vetting.
The founding DOD directive, also known as the “Charter for the Defense Investigative Service,” defined the DIS mission: “To provide DOD components and other U.S. government activities, when authorized by the Secretary of Defense, with a single centrally directed personnel security investigative service.”
Similar to today’s DCSA personnel security mission encompassing security clearance investigations for military, government and cleared industry, DIS performed routine security clearance investigations for defense contractor personnel, as overseen by the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office.
“It’s significant to recognize our past and recognize that we’re doing in many ways what’s represented here in this cemetery,” said Lietzau as the last ceremony concluded at Cappucci’s gravesite.
| Date Taken: | 05.03.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.03.2023 16:41 |
| Story ID: | 443972 |
| Location: | VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 225 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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