DCSA - Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency
09/11/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/11/2024 13:33
Central Region Leadership Summit: Integration and 'leading from the Heartland'
ST. LOUIS - "What you, what we, and what our teams do is absolutely vital to the success of the agency and our nation."
DCSA Central Region Director Roy Hawkins inspired more than 80 participants with the reality regarding the solemn nature of their national security mission as the three-day Central Region Leadership Summit kicked off on Aug. 27.
In his welcoming remarks, Hawkins also emphasized the impact of connecting and collaborating with colleagues and counterparts in various mission areas and support functions throughout the summit to ensure the DCSA's continual success as the U.S. government's premier provider of integrated security services.
"It's important that you get to know who your colleagues are in Background Investigations, Counterintelligence, Cybersecurity and Industrial Security," said Hawkins, pointing out that the summit was the only opportunity many participants could engage in person annually due to the region's geographical expanse encompassing 21 states with more than 600 employees working at over 50 field offices. "Get to know those folks (BI, CI, Cyber, IS and mission support) because our integrated culture requires that we work together to get the job done in the way it needs to get done."
Central Region leaders - regional mission directors, deputy regional directors, supervisory agents in charge, field office chiefs, team leads and assistant regional mission directors - followed Hawkins' advice, focusing on cohesion with their DCSA colleagues throughout the summit. The leaders had the opportunity to hear about the foreign threat from FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations liaison officers from U.S. Transportation Command in addition to their engagement in panel discussions with industry leaders, workshops, breakout sessions and a leadership development exercise.
Hawkins announced at the summit that the fiscal year 2025 Regional Engagement Action Plan (REAP) - the Central Region's strategy - would be published to the Field Operations leadership and Central Region workforce.
The REAP articulates the priorities and objectives of the regional director. The document communicates to the workforce in the Central Region deliberate efforts for integrated mission execution, workforce engagement and collaborative information sharing with industry and federal partners.
They also heard directly from DCSA Director David Cattler who emphasized the importance of mission integration and the sharing of information in addition to Gatekeeper leadership at every level.
"Good ideas don't have rank," said Cattler, adding that in his experience, "the closer I get to the task at hand, the more likely I must find the person who is doing the work and knows what's happening … who knows best how to make it better and easier to do. It's just generally a universal truth."
Cattler acknowledged that there may be different perspectives with more context among Gatekeepers with more senior leadership positions. "That's also true," said Cattler, "but you can't discount the feedback that you're going to get from people that are actually doing the task at hand."
"Everybody needs to be on the same sheet immediately - the same understanding about the goals, objectives and what the regions are doing in alignment with the agency," said Vincent. "Regional leaders, agents on the ground, and everyone all over the heartland need to know."
"What's invaluable about these opportunities for leaders to get together is, number one - the connection that they get back to senior leaders from headquarters to their colleagues and then to the mission support staff," said Adam Farbman, Central Region deputy director. "The value in having this engagement is the opportunity to connect. And what's great is they're going to get information from all those different contingents. They're going to take that back to their field offices. They're going to have an opportunity to share that out with their staff. I think it's an excellent opportunity for them to get updated information, particularly on some of the things that we've been talking about the last two days we've been here."
DCSA Central Region Director Roy Hawkins inspired more than 80 participants with the reality regarding the solemn nature of their national security mission as the three-day Central Region Leadership Summit kicked off on Aug. 27.
In his welcoming remarks, Hawkins also emphasized the impact of connecting and collaborating with colleagues and counterparts in various mission areas and support functions throughout the summit to ensure the DCSA's continual success as the U.S. government's premier provider of integrated security services.
"It's important that you get to know who your colleagues are in Background Investigations, Counterintelligence, Cybersecurity and Industrial Security," said Hawkins, pointing out that the summit was the only opportunity many participants could engage in person annually due to the region's geographical expanse encompassing 21 states with more than 600 employees working at over 50 field offices. "Get to know those folks (BI, CI, Cyber, IS and mission support) because our integrated culture requires that we work together to get the job done in the way it needs to get done."
Central Region leaders - regional mission directors, deputy regional directors, supervisory agents in charge, field office chiefs, team leads and assistant regional mission directors - followed Hawkins' advice, focusing on cohesion with their DCSA colleagues throughout the summit. The leaders had the opportunity to hear about the foreign threat from FBI and Air Force Office of Special Investigations liaison officers from U.S. Transportation Command in addition to their engagement in panel discussions with industry leaders, workshops, breakout sessions and a leadership development exercise.
Hawkins announced at the summit that the fiscal year 2025 Regional Engagement Action Plan (REAP) - the Central Region's strategy - would be published to the Field Operations leadership and Central Region workforce.
The REAP articulates the priorities and objectives of the regional director. The document communicates to the workforce in the Central Region deliberate efforts for integrated mission execution, workforce engagement and collaborative information sharing with industry and federal partners.
They also heard directly from DCSA Director David Cattler who emphasized the importance of mission integration and the sharing of information in addition to Gatekeeper leadership at every level.
"Good ideas don't have rank," said Cattler, adding that in his experience, "the closer I get to the task at hand, the more likely I must find the person who is doing the work and knows what's happening … who knows best how to make it better and easier to do. It's just generally a universal truth."
Cattler acknowledged that there may be different perspectives with more context among Gatekeepers with more senior leadership positions. "That's also true," said Cattler, "but you can't discount the feedback that you're going to get from people that are actually doing the task at hand."
"Everybody needs to be on the same sheet immediately - the same understanding about the goals, objectives and what the regions are doing in alignment with the agency," said Vincent. "Regional leaders, agents on the ground, and everyone all over the heartland need to know."
"What's invaluable about these opportunities for leaders to get together is, number one - the connection that they get back to senior leaders from headquarters to their colleagues and then to the mission support staff," said Adam Farbman, Central Region deputy director. "The value in having this engagement is the opportunity to connect. And what's great is they're going to get information from all those different contingents. They're going to take that back to their field offices. They're going to have an opportunity to share that out with their staff. I think it's an excellent opportunity for them to get updated information, particularly on some of the things that we've been talking about the last two days we've been here."