NSA Site Access: Twenty-Fifth Air Force’s $95M+ Problem

This Organizational Action Project (OAP) examined and addressed security clearance-based delays for Twenty-Fifth Air Force (25 AF) airmen at National Security Agency (NSA) sites and other locations with that organization’s mission systems. The approximate personnel cost associated with this issue was $95.98M at the beginning of the OAP cycle. Across the enterprise, 985 airmen were unable to perform their missions due to this problem. Given its significance, the OAP focused on discovering initiatives that could be pursued at any stage of the security clearance granting process. Data relevant to the issue was collected from our field units and published weekly to senior leaders in the organization. Tracked data consisted of open National Background Investigation Bureau priority personnel security investigations and DoD Consolidated Adjudication Facility adjudications, NSA Military Affairs Division (MADO) security holds, and counter-intelligence polygraph requirements. Using this institutional data, Air Force Instruction (AFI) 65-503 (US Air Force Cost and Planning Factors) was utilized to apply costs to define the original state of affairs and determine the impact of improvements. A representative, though not all-inclusive, list of actions taken includes: 1) Applications for intelligence-related personnel are now given a priority label at Military Entrance Processing Stations, 2) four contract clearance screeners were added to the Basic Military Training workforce, 3) a personnel processing code requiring a current ci-polygraph in order to get movement orders was added to certain assignments, 4) MADO authorized site-to-site transfers, 5) MADO agreed to accept security information packages six months prior to arrival, and 6) a Clearance Workforce Verification System contract was awarded to create a web-based solution to handle transfer paperwork. By the conclusion of the OAP reporting cycle, a$15.8M (17 percent) improvement occurred. The impact of all actions taken will not be seen until 2019 and beyond. The findings and results of this project highlight that addressing a significant and potentially daunting multi-organizational problem like security clearance-based delays is not insurmountable. This OAP pursued operational improvements to gain the most from the current system. The project was not designed to overhaul the structure of the security clearance process. This author posits that what is really needed from future researchers is an approach more akin to the operational innovation described by Michael Hammer where an entirely new way of doing business alters the security clearance process to achieve breakthrough change

Book Reviews

Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis. By David T.Moore. At The Center Of The Storm: The CIA During America's Time of Crisis. By George Tenet with Bill Harlow. Female Suicide Bombers. By Rosemarie Skaine. Information Operations: Doctrine and Practice. By Christopher Paul. The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency. By Matthew M. Aid. The Blood of Lambs: A Former Terrorist's Memoir of Death and Redemption. By Kamal Saleem with Lynn Vincent. Attaché Extraordinaire: Vernon A. Walters in Brazil. By Frank Márcio De Oliveira

Intelligence Secrets

Review of James Rusbridger, Betrayal at Pearl Harbour: How Churchill Lured Roosevelt into World War II and Bradley Smith Eric Nave: The Ultra-Magic Deals and the Most Secret Special Relationship, 1940-194

Distrust: not only in secret service organizations

In this article, we discuss the issue of distrust in the most extreme example of distrustful organizations: secret service organizations. Distrust may be a basic organizing principle in such organizations, but how is it produced and maintained? Inspired by actor–network theory, we analyzed the devices, codes, rules, and procedures used in secret service organizations, and then asked whether these devices, codes, rules, and procedures differ from those used in ordinary organizations. Based on our analysis, we make two contributions. First, we draw researchers’ attention to distrust that is intentionally built and maintained rather than distrust that is accidental and indicative of faulty management. Second, we identify the material manifestations of distrust. We argue that in future studies of trust and distrust in organizations, it will be necessary to focus on the technologies, physical objects, and quasi-objects. These, together with discourses, guarantee the stability of connections among organizational actions

Book Reviews

Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis. By David T.Moore. At The Center Of The Storm: The CIA During America\u27s Time of Crisis. By George Tenet with Bill Harlow. Female Suicide Bombers. By Rosemarie Skaine. Information Operations: Doctrine and Practice. By Christopher Paul. The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency. By Matthew M. Aid. The Blood of Lambs: A Former Terrorist\u27s Memoir of Death and Redemption. By Kamal Saleem with Lynn Vincent. Attaché Extraordinaire: Vernon A. Walters in Brazil. By Frank Márcio De Oliveira

Dan Brown: Narrative Tourism and \u201cTime Packaging\u201d

Reasons for the extraordinary success of Dan Brown\u2019s novels may be found in the particularly appealing formula he adopts in his storytelling: a mix of elements that have proved to be highly appreciated by a new typology of globalized reader. These include the deliberate blurring of distinctions between reality, history and fiction, the competent use of narratological devices to produce immersive space/time dimensions, and the creation of a cross- national and cross-generational media debate with diffuse critical authorship on the Web. Brown\u2019s fiction can be taken as example of a new kind of novel placing high emphasis on transcoding and cognitive appreciation

Dan Brown: Morphology of a Bestsellersaurus

L'articolo indaga da un punto di vista narratologico l'opera di Dan Brown e la teoria della serial fiction

CYBEREDUCATION-BY-DESIGN™: DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION AT SECONDARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN ARIZONA

Most survey results agree that there is a current and ongoing shortage of skilled cybersecurity workers that places our privacy, infrastructure, and nation at risk. Estimates for the global Cybersecurity Workforce Gap range from 2.72 million (ISC2, 2021) to 3.5 million (Cyber Academy, 2021) for 2021 and the United States estimates range from 465,000 (Brooks, 2021) to over 769,000 (Cyber Seek, 2022) open jobs as of November 2022. The most optimistic estimates still demonstrate a critical issue. As cybersecurity threats continue to grow in sophistication, scope, and scale, the ability to secure the United States from these threats lies in the ability to develop cybersecurity professionals with the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to accomplish the tasks associated with their cyber roles. The ability to supply qualified cybersecurity professionals is outpaced by the growing demand as previously outlined. This study proposes that conducting a case study of existing cybersecurity programs at secondary education institutions can identify the critical elements of these programs. These elements can be codified into program profiles and further refined into a comprehensive cybersecurity education framework for secondary education institutions. This framework can be used by school districts throughout Arizona to develop cybersecurity programs and ultimately develop qualified and competent cybersecurity professionals to overcome the cybersecurity workforce gap