Lloyd Austin, secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2023 Wash100 inductee, has concluded his assessment of findings and recommendations of a 45-day review of DOD’s security programs, procedures and policies across the areas of education and training, personnel security, physical security and information safeguarding and accountability.
The review showed that majority of DOD staff with access to classified national security information comply with security processes and acknowledge the significance of information security to meet the department’s missions and maintain national security, DOD said Wednesday.
Austin also released guidance on measures that DOD senior leaders should take in the near- and medium-term to improve accountability and protect CNSI from being compromised.
These include reinforcing existing security policies and practices to ensure compliance and accountability down to the department’s lowest levels; expanding the use of existing technical tools and systems to improve security clearance processes; and examining opportunities to tailor training, education and policies to better address current and evolving security needs.
The review was carried out by the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security in collaboration with DOD’s chief information officer and the director of administration and management.
The Pentagon chief issued a list of follow-on actions that DOD component heads should implement to help ensure collective and individual accountability for CNSI, including the release of a plan of action and milestones ensuring all department personnel are included in designated security information technology systems by Aug. 31.
