Assessment of Security Within the Department of Defense - Training, Certification, and Professionalization (DoDIG-2012-001)

Security spans the Department of Defense and is essential to protecting its resources. For this reason, the DoD has long sought to create a corps of well trained, competent security personnel to support protection efforts. Properly applied, a capable security structure can be effective in the possible deterrence of another Fort Hood or WikiLeaks incident. Several security reviews and audits have assessed the state of security training and certification, both within the Federal Government and specific to the DoD, and have made recommendations to further enhance the professionalization and proficiencies of the security workforce. The process for training and certifying DoD security professionals remains fragmentary with no standardization across the security enterprise. The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD(I)) directed the Defense Security Service (DSS) to establish a training and certification program for security professionals with a goal towards security professionalization. DSS is in the process of fielding the SPeD Certification Program, which will provide a path towards security professionalization through a four level certification program. SPeD is a DoD-wide security training and certification program that will identify security proficiencies and accountabilities. When fully implemented, SPeD will provide the DoD security workforce a path towards professionalization and will establish standardized competencies across Services and commands. However, the program is in its preliminary stages and the path toward full implementation has not been completed. This is the second in a series of reports on security within the DoD requested by the USD(I) to assess the state of security in the Department. The overall assessment objective is to determine: how the Department programs and tracks its security costs and measures the return on investment for security expenditures; how security professionals are trained, certified, and professionalized; how security professionals' jobs are classified and graded; and how effective security policy is in addressing the security needs of the Department. The focus in this report is on security training, certification, and professionalization issues.