NCIS Honors 2009 Special Agents, Civilians of the Year

01.15.2010

Courtesy Story

Naval District Washington

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By Petty Officer 1st Class Kristen Allen

The Naval Criminal Investigative Servicehonored five special agents and two non-agent employees during the 2009 Special Agents and Civilians of the Year ceremony at NCIS headquarters on the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, Jan. 15.

Under Secretary of the Navy Robert Work was the keynote speaker at the event.

The seven individuals selected were: SA Brian Dykes, 2009 Special Agent of the Year for Operational Support; SA Anthony Luckman, 2009 Special Agent of the Year for Economic Crimes Investigations; SA Brandon McKinnon, 2009 Special Agent of the Year for General Crimes Investigations; SA Casey Peterson, 2009 Special Agent of the Year in the Combating Terrorism Discipline; SA Scott Thorpe, 2009 Special Agent of the Year in the Counterintelligence Discipline; James Humphreys, 2009 Operational Support Civilian of the Year; and Tearnee Adams, 2009 Administrative Support Civilian of the Year.

"Thank you for inviting me and allowing me to be part of this ceremony," said Work. "It's a great, great pleasure to be here today and to share in this ceremony with such a professional and outstanding organization as NCIS."

Work related a number of different interactions he has had with NCIS agents, both during his time in the Marine Corps and as under secretary of the Navy, and said he has always been impressed with what he's seen.

"You're small, but you have an extremely advanced sense of self, organization, and pride that is evident every time I talk with an NCIS agent," said Work.

Work commented specifically on the relatively small number of NCIS employees and the large area they cover worldwide and variety of jobs they perform.

"You're the first to fight. You're worldwide. You're deployable. You're expeditionary," said Work. "I just can't tell you how proud I am of what this organization does."

Work helped make presentations to all the awardees, along with NCIS Director (Acting) Greg Scovel, Deputy Director for Management and Administration Ralph Blincoe, and a senior management representative from each awardee's respective department.

"Today's awardees are being honored for their contributions during a time of great change, both here at home and across the world," said Scovel. "These are trying times and, in this environment, it's especially appropriate that we recognize the contributions of those who rise above and by their actions, lead the way."

Dykes is assigned to the Pacific Cyber Division of the NCIS Cyber Department, based in San Diego. Dykes was honored for his team's work in identifying threats to Department of the Navy, DOD, and cleared defense contractors' computer networks and information systems. His team's efforts detected and thwarted multiple attempts to degrade the operational readiness of the DON information systems, and have directly influenced the development and use of strategies designed to protect U.S. information resources in DOD, the U.S. government, and the private sector.

Luckman is assigned to the NCIS Criminal Investigations Directorate and works out of the Carolinas Field Office. Luckman was recognized for numerous investigations into allegations of bribery, fraud, and corruption involving U.S. servicemembers in Iraq, which led to him being chosen by NCIS headquarters to initiate a task force for investigating contracting corruption affecting the DON in overseas contingency environments. His efforts resulted in the stand-up of the Joint Contract Fraud and Corruption Task Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C., which Luckman leads and to date has resulted in three guilty pleas and the recovery of $60,000.

McKinnon is assigned to the NCIS Criminal Investigations Directorate and was recognized for his work in the Southeastern United States and Far East field offices during 2009. His interrogation skills, ability to work sources, and proactive investigative approach have led to confessions from terrorists, drug dealers, murderers, and pedophiles. He was also noted for his successful work during joint investigations in other countries, and for working counterterrorism investigations during a deployment to Iraq in support of the Joint Prosecution and Exploitation Center.

Peterson works for the NCIS Resident Agency in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She was recognized for conducting liaison activities in a high-threat environment to help increase NCIS access to force protection information, conducting 69 port briefings, and supporting 90 berth missions for ships operating in Fujairah. She also supported 47 Navy brief stops for passengers, 36 anchorage missions, and some 50 flights operating out of the area.

Thorpe was honored for his work while assigned to the NCIS Foreign Counterintelligence Program in the Washington Field Office during 2009. He developed, initiated, and executed several high impact offensive counterintelligence operations, through which senior DON leadership, combatant commanders, and the intelligence community were better able to assess and counter the intelligence activities of U.S. adversaries. He was also recognized for taking on the role of acting supervisory special agent at the Washington Field Office during a time of transition and high operational tempo.

Humphreys, who works in the NCIS Directorate of Intelligence and Information Sharing, is assigned to the NCIS Combating Terrorism Directorate as the lead intelligence analyst supporting protective service operations. He was recognized for establishing, improving, and streamlining analytic plans, processes, and products to improve protective service operations and responses to the full spectrum of threats encountered.

Adams works as a security specialist in the Records Management Branch at NCIS Headquarters and was recognized for responding to more than 11,000 requests for closed case investigative files, which resulted in NCIS meeting the Office of Personnel Management requirement of responding to 90 percent of all requests within 30 days. Her work in validating closed case file retention status and ensuring the destruction of 20 percent of the case files deemed "out of retention" was also noted in her citation.

Scovel pointed out that although the awardees were all being recognized for their individual accomplishments, the group shares a number of core characteristics: dedication, personal sacrifice, a penchant for details, innovation, a sense of urgency, an incredible work ethic, a drive for perfection, and an understanding of NCIS' constancy of purpose.

"My favorite day of the year professionally is the day that we get to recognize the great achievements of our awardees, those special agents and civilians in our organization that achieve such heights that set them apart from the rest of the pack," Scovel said.

Scovel highlighted many aspects of NCIS, focusing largely on deployments around the world to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Horn of Africa, and how NCIS had agents on the ground in Haiti within 72 hours after the country suffered a devastating earthquake. Scovel took time to recognize all of the family members who support NCIS employees in all their endeavors.

"I really want to thank the families for your sacrifices and for being there for the awardees, not only here at the ceremony, but at home," said Scovel.

Scovel closed his remarks by directly addressing the special agents and civilians of the year for 2009.

"I want to congratulate you and salute you for your great achievements. I applaud your dedication in service and I could not be more proud of you," said Scovel.

Along with Work and Scovel's congratulations, the awardees received a special video message from the entire cast of the NCIS television show recognizing their achievements, admiring their dedication to service, and honoring the sacrifices of the family members who support them.

NCIS is a federal law enforcement agency that protects and defends the U.S. Department of the Navy against terrorism and foreign intelligence threats, investigates major criminal offenses and provides law enforcement and security services to the Navy and Marine Corps on a worldwide basis. The agency is comprised of approximately 2,500 total employees, including 1,250 civilian special agents, in more than 150 locations around the world.