Center for Development 

of Security Excellence
2 | 2018 Year End Report

MESSAGE FROM 

MR. PAYNE

Daniel E. Payne

Director, Defense Security Service

Sincerely,

The Defense Security Service (DSS), Center for 

Development of Security Excellence (CDSE) continues 

to adapt to changing policy and technology by 

providing innovative security training, education, and 

certifications across the globe. Since its establishment 

in 2010, CDSE has put its products and services in the 

hands of not only the Department of Defense (DoD) 

but U.S. Government entities and industry under the 

National Industrial Security Program (NISP), enhancing 

their capabilities to tackle current and future 

security threats.

As technologies and policies within the security 

community change, so do the responsibilities we place 

on all security personnel. In response, CDSE adapts 

alongside this changing landscape and leverages 

current trends in technology to create security 

courses, products, and certification assessments, 

regardless of location. Security awareness is everyone’s 

responsibility, and CDSE is poised to provide the most 

up-to-date security policy and information to the 

community at large.

Using innovative tools and delivery methods, CDSE 

continues to help civilians, contractors, and beyond 

to support their security duties with its security 

programs. I am proud of the results we have achieved 

in this past year and am excited for what is to come.
www.cdse.edu | 3

Kevin J. Jones

Director, CDSE

Sincerely,

CDSE is pleased to present our ninth Year End Report. 

During FY18, we continued to produce and deliver 

products and services for security personnel in the 

Federal Government and industry under the NISP, 

ensuring they continue to meet the demands of 

an ever-changing security landscape. With new 

issues and threats emerging each day, security 

responsibilities now rest in the hands of not only DoD 

security professionals but of personnel with ancillary 

security duties and anyone with access to 

current technologies.

CDSE is committed to supporting DoD’s security 

personnel and keeping up with new and emerging 

technology to provide ease of access to users. In 

this year’s edition, you will see many examples 

of accomplishments, including hosting the DoD 

Security Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and the DoD 

Virtual Security Conference for Industry, successfully 

migrating our courses to a new Learning Management 

Platform in USA Learning, and much more.

We hope you will find this report informative and see 

our dedication to providing the security workforce 

with the most current and pertinent products for the 

constantly evolving environment.

MESSAGE FROM 

FRONT OFFICE

Denise D. Humphrey

Deputy Director, CDSE
MISSION

VISION

To be the premier provider and center of excellence for 

security education, training, and certification for the DoD 

and industry under the NISP.

Provide the DoD with a security center of excellence 

for the professionalization of the security community

and be the premier provider of security education, training, 

and certification for the DoD and industry under the NISP. 

The CDSE provides development, delivery, and exchange of 

security knowledge to ensure a high-performing workforce 

capable of addressing our Nation’s security challenges.

4 | 2018 Year End Report
CONTENTS

A Message from Mr. Payne 2

A Message from the CDSE Front Office 3

Collaboration 6

DoD Security Conference 6

DoD Virtual Security Conference For Industry 7

New From CDSE 8

New Products 8

Innovative Product Delivery 9

Toolkits 9

Unauthorized Disclosure 9

Classroom Integration For Students 10

Connecting Expertise with Community 10

Results 11

ACE CREDITTM Recommendations 11

ISOC and APC Accreditation 11

CDSE Congratulates Second Student to Earn 

All Education Certificates 12

Voice of the Customer Feedback 13

Technology Capabilities 13

Migration to New Learning 

Management System 13

Timeline 14

Awards 16

NCMS Award Winning Poster 16

CDSE Recognized For a Third Year as a Top 

Learning Organization 16

Award Winning Counterintelligence Team 16

Horizon Interactive Awards 17

OMNI Awards 17

By the Numbers 18

www.cdse.edu | 5
COLLABORATION

DOD SECURITY CONFERENCE 

CDSE hosted the 2018 DoD Security Conference 

from July 10–12 at the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa 

in Phoenix, Arizona. The theme was Innovation: 

Advancing the Security Paradigm. A total of 274 

DoD security civilians and military personnel and 

contractors who support the security mission 

attended the conference with 34 different speakers 

and an additional 10 DSS staff members.

The Keynote address was delivered by Mr. Garry Reid, 

Director for Defense Intelligence (Intelligence and 

Security) on Defense Secretary Mattis’ priorities and 

changes in the DoD. This was the first time since 2015 

the DoD community was able to meet at an in-person 

conference to network and exchange information 

on policy and best practices in subject areas such 

as Insider Threat, Personnel, Cyber, and Information 

Security.

In addition, the following themes were mentioned 

throughout the conference at many different sessions: 

• The need to vet and build a trusted workforce that 

is modern and diverse

• The importance of protecting critical technology, 

as well as people, facilities, programs, and 

information throughout the acquisition process

• The requirement to leverage technology using 

innovative solutions and commercial technology

6 | 2018 Year End Report
Topics included the Under Secretary of Defense for 

Intelligence perspective on the changes to DSS and 

the importance of thwarting the insider threat, the 

evolution of industrial security oversight, a panel 

discussion on information sharing in insider threat 

programs, the NISP Risk Management Framework 

(RMF) process, updates on the Defense Vetting 

Directorate and the National Industrial Security 

System and Defense Information System for Security 

systems, and Controlled Unclassified Information.

These briefings and panel discussions came at an 

important time in our history. We hope this will be the 

first of many industry conferences to come. 

DOD VIRTUAL SECURITY 

CONFERENCE FOR INDUSTRY

On September 19, DSS hosted the inaugural DoD 

Virtual Security Conference for Industry for over 1,300 

Industry partners, including participants in Europe, 

South America, and Asia. The goal of the virtual 

conference was to continue to encourage greater 

collaboration and trust in the DSS partnership with 

industry. The conference was delivered via a virtual 

platform, which allowed participants to submit 

questions and receive answers in real time. A total of 

480 questions were submitted over the course of 

eight hours. 

www.cdse.edu | 7

WORLDWIDE PARTICIPATION IN THE 2018 

DOD VIRTUAL SECURITY CONFERENCE

1256

178

269

9

179 225

38

5

7

COLLABORATION
NEW FROM CDSE

8 | 2018 Year End Report

NEW ELEARNING

NEW WEBINARS

DSS Targeting of US 

Technology Trends Analysis 

PERSEREC Support to Insider 

Threat Programs

DoD Insider Threat Enterprise 

Program Management Office

CI and Insider Threat Training 

Products at CDSE

Unauthorized Disclosure 

Program Manager

Applied Research in Social 

Media and Security

Engaging Management and 

Supervisors

Visits and Meetings: 

What’s New?

Kicking Off an Insider Threat 

Vigilance Campaign

Supervisor Reporting and 

Security With PERSEREC

Security Chat with DITMAC 

Assistant Directors NATO

Let’s Talk About FOCI

Transmitting or 

Transporting Classified 

Materials by Industry

Your Fridge may be Spying 

on You: Securing the Internet 

of Things

Featuring the Personnel 

Security Management Office

Business Structures DD254 CI in Support of RDA

PERSEREC – Applied 

Research on Exfiltration 

and Security

Technical Implementation of A&A in the NISP NISP Assessment and Authorization (A&A) Curriculum

NEW PRODUCTS 

CDSE continued providing new courses and products to keep up to date with changing policies and security 

environments. In FY18, CDSE released:
www.cdse.edu | 9

UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE

On September 8, 2017, the White House National 

Security Advisor, Mr. H.R. McMaster, sent a memo to 

cabinet officials, directors, and administrators across 

the Federal Government to conduct unauthorized 

disclosure training. In response to this memo, CDSE 

collaborated with the Office of the Under Secretary of 

Defense for Intelligence (OUSD(I)) on a training format 

and deployment options that would support more 

than four million DoD users, as well as potentially 

other federal executive agency training users. 

To support the large influx of users, CDSE converted 

the identified Unauthorized Disclosure (UD) courses 

to a video format accessible via the existing CDSE 

YouTube platform. In addition, the UD Toolkit was 

developed to help cleared individuals understand 

their duties and obligations, learn the difference 

between UD and legitimate whistleblowing, and 

determine where and how to report both UD and 

questionable government behavior and activities.

TOOLKITS

CDSE, in response to our customers’ needs, has 

developed a repository of role-based and topic 

content area specific resources that serve as a onestop shop for security essentials. These toolkits 

provide on the job support in real time by providing 

quick links to job aids, videos, briefings, templates, 

resources, and relevant policies organized into security 

discipline categories and related to a specific DoD 

security role and task. Several of these toolkits were 

developed in response to an urgent national security 

need such as the Protecting Your Identity Toolkit. 

INNOVATIVE 

PRODUCT DELIVERY
CONNECTING EXPERTISE 

WITH COMMUNITY 

To engage with the community in today’s world, 

technology needs to be utilized to the fullest. CDSE 

has risen to this task by using virtual platforms to 

bring security expertise straight to the community 

while still maintaining two-way communication. The 

two best examples of this are using a live, virtual 

platform for the Getting Started Seminar and the CDSE 

Speaker Series.

The Getting Started Seminar is an in-person course 

for industry facility security officers at cleared DoD 

contractor facilities participating in the National 

Industrial Security Program. Due to stringent 

budgets, time, and distance, many students cannot 

participate in the in-person class. CDSE was able to 

expand the brick and mortar class with a live virtual 

component, creating a hybrid class. Group activities 

were redesigned to incorporate the virtual students 

to enhance peer-to-peer interaction. Audio and 

video was integrated into the virtual classroom via 

the online platform, synchronizing the live session. 

This hybrid extension doubled classroom capacity, 

connected 40 agencies and represented 18 states. 

These achievements have continued since the hybrid 

class’s inception.

CDSE’s Security Speaker Series delivers live interviews 

with knowledgeable, respected leaders in the security 

community using our live and synchronous virtual 

learning platform. Speakers discuss trending topic 

areas. Conversation is driven by hot topics, and the 

audience may ask questions via the Q&A box on the 

web conferencing platform. The webinars are recorded 

and then archived on the CDSE website for ondemand viewing.

INNOVATIVE 

PRODUCT DELIVERY

CLASSROOM INTEGRATION 

FOR STUDENTS

CDSE has leveraged its online classroom 

platforms with its on-site classroom IT systems 

to enable students to access their class resources 

from anywhere they have an internet connection, 

such as their hotel rooms at night. Students are 

able to submit their homework assignments 

online prior to class, participate in online 

discussions with other students outside of class, 

and access their grades. These updates help 

CDSE “go green” by eliminating the need for CDSE 

to provide students with paper-based 

training products.

10 | 2018 Year End Report
www.cdse.edu |11

RESULTS

ISOC AND APC ACCREDITATION

CDSE received National Commission for Certifying 

Agencies (NCCA) accreditation for the Industrial 

Security Oversight Certification (ISOC) in November 

2017. This certification validates a certificants’ 

understanding and ability to apply industrial security 

oversight concepts, principles, and practices under 

the NISP.

The congressionally-mandated and nationallyaccredited Adjudicator Professional Certification 

(APC) confirms certificants and the program meet 

comprehensive quality standards and are prepared for 

success in the adjudicator profession. APC certificants 

are authorized to perform all essential functions 

related to a government employee, military service 

member, or a contractor employee’s eligibility for 

access to classified information or to hold a sensitive 

position. APC received national accreditation in April 

2018 and is the sixth Security Professional Education 

Development (SPēD) Certification Program to achieve 

this status.

ACE CREDITTM RECOMMENDATIONS 

During FY18, CDSE continued to maintain its 

affiliation with the American Council on Education’s 

(ACE) College Credit Recommendation Service 

(CREDIT). ACE CREDITTM helps CDSE students gain 

access to academic credit for completed, tuition-free 

CDSE Education Division and Training Division 

courses or curricula. CDSE offers 17 education courses 

and 14 training courses and curricula with ACE 

CREDITTM recommendations. 

Every three years, ACE CREDITTM professionals 

review courses for credit recommendations. In 

FY18, CDSE hosted an onsite ACE review of CDSE 

courses. CDSE was pleased to retain ACE CREDITTM 

recommendations for all reviewed Education and 

Training Division courses. 

CDSE continues to collaborate with the OUSD(I) 

Human Capital Management Office, the Security 

Policy & Oversight Division, and the U.S. Department 

of Education to explore obtaining degree-granting 

authority.

The ACE CREDITTM logo is a federally registered 

trademark of the American 

Council on Education and cannot 

be used or reproduced without 

the express written permission of the American 

Council on Education.
12 | 2018 Year End Report

RESULTS

CDSE CONGRATULATES SECOND 

STUDENT TO EARN ALL 

EDUCATION CERTIFICATES

In 2015, Ms. Juaquita Gray earned her first two 

Education Certificates, the Certificate in Security 

Leadership and the Certificate in Risk Management. 

She next earned the Certificate in Security (Generalist) 

and the Certificate in Security Management in 

2016, and the fifth one, the Certificate for Systems 

& Operations, in May 2018. Ms. Gray is the second 

student and second DSS employee to earn all five 

Education Certificates offered by the Education 

Program.

Ms. Gray, who had previously earned a Bachelor of 

Science degree in Information Systems Management 

and a Master of Aeronautical Science degree in 

Management, began her career with DSS in 2012. 

She credits fellow DSS coworker and information 

systems security professional Mr. Curtis Cook with 

introducing her to the CDSE Education program and 

leading by example when he became the first student 

to earn all five Education Certificates. She had initially 

planned to take only the Effective Communication in 

DoD Security course and then move on to another 

educational program. 

“After discovering the high-caliber content of the 

curriculum, proficient (student focused) instructor, 

and user friendly virtual instructor-led classroom, I 

realized the remaining CDSE Education courses and 

the graduate-level certificate programs were very 

appealing,” Ms. Gray said. “The program content was 

entirely conducive for self-improvement and having 

greater impact as a security professional team player.” 

Ms. Gray recognized the quality and value added 

of the curricula directly supported professional 

advancement as a result of the increased DoD security 

knowledge base and the analytical and critical 

thinking performance capabilities. She said her goal is 

to be “ever-learning” and believes continuous learning 

should be an aim for everyone. 

Ms. Juaquita Gray, a DSS Senior Industrial Security Representative, 

is presented with her final Education certificate by her supervisor 

Mr. Kevin Flowers, DSS San Francisco Field Office Chief
VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER FEEDBACK 

TECHNOLOGY 

CAPABILITIES

POSITIVE FEEDBACK:

Provides in-depth training which provides pertinent 

information within elements in Security. 

There are a lot of great products, such as job aids or 

training that are very beneficial to capitol deepening. 

High quality online training courses 

Easily accessible online classes 

Training options are excellent 

and the website is outstanding 

Easy to use website, lots of relevant training courses, products 

and services. 

Great online training... It allowed me to complete 

ATO Level II without attending classes... opened up 

an opportunity because of that. 

RESULTS

MIGRATION TO NEW LEARNING 

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 

During the fiscal year, CDSE successfully moved all 

eLearning courseware and examinations and mission 

support functionality from the legacy system to the 

USALearning platform. The learning histories of all 

current active users of the legacy system were moved 

to the new platform, thereby maintaining record 

continuity. CDSE launched the new system on October 

1, 2018. Users now experience a new, user-friendly 

platform that allows them to take CDSE courses. Users 

can now customize their home pages so they can see 

the most relevant information to meet their training, 

education, and certification needs. 

www.cdse.edu |13

The Voice of the Customer surveyed CDSE 

customers on their experience with CDSE 

products and services. The majority of those 

customers reported an overall positive experience 

with CDSE. 

3%

Negative

97%

Positive/Neutral
14 | 2018 Year End Report

TIMELINE OF CDSE 

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

CDSE established

3D simulation capability developed

Blended learning 

courses introduced

Received COE Accreditation 

Virtual classroom introduced

Established the DSTC

Received first 

eLearning award

Classroom Training 

Launched

Online, paper-based

 courses launched

Launched first 

eLearning course

Instructor-led courses transitioned to 

eLearning curriculum
www.cdse.edu |15

SAPPC Accredited 

Graduate-level courses launched

Webinars launched

Received first ACE Accreditations

APC launched

DPAPC launched

Security Awareness Hub Platform 

launched

First Virtual DoD 

Security Conference

First Virtual Speaker Series

PSC Accredited

ISOC and APC Accredited

First Virtual DoD Security 

Conference for Industry

SPēD Certification 

Program launched

 SFPC Accredited 

Security Shorts launched 

ENROL becomes STEPP

First toolkits created

Virtual instructor-led 

courses launched

Education Certificates launched

SPSC launched

First Hybrid DoD

Security Conference

SPIPC Accredited

First Hybrid (virtual and 

in-person) Course
16 | 2018 Year End Report

CDSE RECOGNIZED 

FOR A THIRD YEAR 

AS A TOP LEARNING 

ORGANIZATION 

CDSE was named a 2018 Learning! 100 Award 

Winner. The Learning! 100 Awards recognize the top 

60 private and top 40 public organizations for their 

best-in-class learning and development programs. The 

private sector organizations included Amazon Web 

Services, IBM, and Facebook. CDSE was ranked No. 8 

out of 40 public sector organizations for launching an 

Enterprise-Wide Distance Learning Strategy.

CDSE received public recognition at the Learning! 100 

conference and through publication of results in the 

Elearning! and Government Elearning! Magazines’ 

Learning! 100 awards issues. CDSE’s participation in 

the conference allowed knowledge sharing among 

other high performing public sector organizations.

AWARD WINNING 

COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TEAM 

CDSE Counterintelligence training developed an 

abundance of training products during FY18, which 

continued to be some of the most viewed CDSE 

training products. These products and services earned 

the team the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) 

DoD Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence 

(HUMINT) Awards’ “CI Team of the Year.” 

In addition, the CI Curriculum Manager was named 

the National Counterintelligence and Security Center 

Counterintelligence Educator of the Year for the 

second year running.

AWARDS

NCMS AWARD WINNING POSTER

CDSE has supported NCMS: The Society for Industrial 

Security Professionals Annual Conference for over 

ten years. Each year the conference hosts a poster 

competition where organizations are able to submit 

poster designs in various categories (professional 

design, contemporaneous, etc.). This year CDSE had 

the honor of once again taking home first place in the 

Professional Design Category. 

The winning poster “WANTED” was a collaborative 

effort among CDSE employees, designed as a result of 

an internal contest. 
www.cdse.edu |17

HORIZON INTERACTIVE AWARDS

CDSE won five Horizon Interactive awards in the Instructional, Promotional, and Training/E-Learning categories:

OMNI AWARDS

CDSE won three Omni awards for several courses and products.

PRODUCT AWARD LEVEL AWARD TYPE

DoD Annual Security Awareness Refresher Bronze Training/eLearning

Need-to-Know Security Training Video Bronze Training/eLearning

Developing a Multidisciplinary Insider Threat Capability Bronze Training/eLearning

Exterior Security Lighting Bronze Training/eLearning

Intelligence Oversight Course Bronze Training/eLearning

PRODUCT AWARD LEVEL AWARD TYPE

DoD Annual Security Awareness Refresher Bronze Education

Technical Implementation of Assessment and Authorization in the NISP Bronze Education

Technical Implementation of Assessment and Authorization in the NISP Bronze Government

The Horizon Interactive Awards is a prestigious, international competition 

recognizing outstanding achievements among interactive media producers. The 

competition recognizes and awards the best websites, videos, online advertising, 

print media, and mobile applications.

The Omni Awards recognize outstanding media productions that engage, 

empower, and enlighten. Awards are given in the fields of Film & Video, Animation 

& Effects, and Website Design.
6 CERTIFICATIONS WITH

NATIONAL-LEVEL 

ACCREDITATION

68,466 JOB AID 

VIEWS

88,827

VISITS TO SECURITY SHORTS

EDUCATION 

COURSE

COMPLETIONS

31 163

1,201

2,429

COURSES WITH 

ACE CREDITTM RECOMMENDATIONS

TOTAL SPēD CONFERRALS

TOTAL TESTED

112,125 

1,416,813 

4,706,499

PDUs 

EARNED

OVERALL 

WEBSITE 

VIEWS

VISITS TO TOOLKITS

591,032 

COURSE COMPLETIONS

BY THE NUMBERS 

1

18 | 2018 Year End Report
The editorial content of this publication was prepared, edited, and approved by the 

Director, Center for Development of Security Excellence. The views and opinions expressed 

do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense. To comment, contact the 

CDSE Communication Branch at dss.cdseenterprisemgmt@mail.mil.
20 | 2018 Year End Report

Center for Development 

of Security Excellence www.cdse.edu