CIWT's Special Security Office Vital in Delivering Trained IW Professionals to the Fleet

Photo By Michele Diamond | Logo for Center for Information Warfare Training. (U.S. Navy graphic by Michele Diamond)  

PENSACOLA, FL, UNITED STATES

03.01.2018

Story by Glenn Sircy 

Center for Information Warfare Training

PENSACOLA, Fla. – It’s no secret the Center for Information Warfare Training’s (CIWT) special security office (SSO) is a central component of the CIWT domain successfully fulfilling its mission.

The core CIWT SSO team, headquartered at Naval Air Station Pensacola Corry Station, Pensacola, Fla., is comprised of seven personnel with a combined 165 years of government and/or military security experience.

Doug Jones, CIWT’s command security manager and regional special security officer leads CIWT’s SSO team. Jones serves as the principal advisor to the CIWT’s commanding officer, Capt. Bill Lintz, in the application of personnel security, physical security and information security programs that both enhance the command's training mission and protects national security.

“First and foremost, our main mission is to protect classified information from unauthorized disclosure,” said Jones. “However, efficiently managing staff and student eligibility and access is paramount in supporting CIWT’s training objectives.”

Within established security guidelines, the CIWT SSO team is also very effective with physically protecting the integrity of classified information; conducting an aggressive security awareness training and education program; and strictly enforcing policies and procedures.

Some of the major functions and responsibilities of CIWT’s SSO team include processing over 8,000 “A” and “C” school students annually; security manager for over 2,600 personnel on a daily basis; conducting secret and top secret special compartmented information (SCI) security clearance indoctrinations on all new accession Sailors, civilians and select contractor personnel; providing regional special security officer support to tenant commands within Pensacola and the Gulf Coast area; supporting all Naval Education and Training Command claimant SCI requirements worldwide; managing SCI accreditation through National Security Agency for all nine SCI facilities (SCIF) on board CIWT; managing all incoming and outgoing Defense Courier Service classified material; and managing classified material destruction to include magnetic media and hard drives.

"Our successful SSO team ensures the CIWT domain sails smoothly across the ever challenging security landscape," said Lintz. "Their roles are key in helping us train the Sailors for 'the Navy the nation needs.'"

Due to the large number of "A" and “C” school students requiring access to SCI and secret information to complete their training, every effort is made by the CIWT N2 team to obtain SCI clearances for all initial entry students while they are at Corry Station. However, only those requiring SCI access will be given the appropriate access and badges.

Personnel security is another concern with respect to these new students. Although the security indoctrination will stress the special trust and confidence placed in them as a result of their clearance and point out the common pitfalls of past and present, many will require reminders, counseling, and even punishment before they get the point. Inevitably, some students will fail to meet personnel security standards, but CIWT’s SSO team exhausts every effort to keep those to a minimum.

"At times, security practices and procedures may cause personal inconvenience," added Lintz. "The compensation for the inconvenience is the knowledge that the work we are doing, within the framework of sound security practices, contributes significantly to the defense and continued security of our great nation."

CIWT’s SSO team takes their roles in the all-encompassing security architecture very seriously, and this is why they continue to excel and flawlessly help deliver trained information warfare professionals to the fleet.

CIWT is one of the largest of the NETC learning centers with four schoolhouse commands, two detachments, and training sites throughout the United States and Japan. Training 22,000 students every year, CIWT delivers trained information warfare professionals to the Navy and joint services, enabling optimal performance of information warfare across the full spectrum of military operations. CIWT also offers more than 200 courses for cryptologic technicians, intelligence specialists, information systems technicians, electronics technicians and officers in the information warfare community.

For more news from Center for Information Warfare Training organization, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/cid/, http://www.netc.navy.mil/centers/CIWT/, http://www.facebook.com/NavyCIWT, or http://www.twitter.com/NavyCIWT.

For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy.

• Date Taken: 03.01.2018
• Date Posted: 03.01.2018 08:25
• Story ID: 267685
• Location: PENSACOLA, FL, US