September is National Insider Threat Awareness Month (NITAM), an annual, month-long campaign spearheaded by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (OUSD (I&S)) and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) to educate government and industry about the risks posed by insider threats and the role of insider threat programs. Since it became the University-Affiliated Research Center (UARC) for the defense security and intelligence communities in 2018, ARLIS has conducted research to help OUSD(I&S), DCSA, and others in the government to model and mitigate insider risks. Accordingly, ARLIS subject matter experts have taken on high-visibility roles this month to help make NITAM a success.
- During this month, West Point Press published the second issue of The Managing Insider Risk & Organizational Resilience (MIROR) Journal which includes an article co-authored by ARLISan Stephanie Jaros. Explore the September issue of The MIROR Journal.
- Stephanie Jaros and ARLISan Judy Philipson spoke at The Defense Personnel and Security Research Center’s (PERSEREC) fifth annual Insider Threat Social and Behavioral Sciences Summit (InT SBS Summit). The ARLISans talked about the importance of applied research and discussed strategies to minimize error in personnel security risk assessments, respectively.
- Bill Stephens, Mitigating Insider Risk Mission Area Lead, presented on a NITAM panel at the Sept. 3 meeting of the Five Eyes (Australia, USA, UK, New Zealand, Canada) Insider Risk Practitioner Alliance (FIRPA), hosted by the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Australian Embassy. Bill and Mr. Don Carlos James Blasingame, Assistant Director, Enterprise Threat-Mitigation Directorate, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, served on a panel moderated by FIRPA-USA Director J.T. Mendoza. Both panelists offered their thoughts on challenges and opportunities ahead for the Insider Threat/Risk communities. Bill also participated in a FIRPA workshop with the full audience to capture challenges, opportunities, and recommendations that FIRPA intends to synthesize into a strategy to address Insider Risk professionalization moving forward.
- Bill Stephens also participated in a panel at the DCSA Conference for National Insider Threat Awareness Month. On this panel with other Insider Risk/Threat thought leaders, Bill shared his views developed over his 38 years in government service and refined through his research while leading the ARLIS Insider Risk Mission area since his arrival in Jan 2021.
These thought leadership roles come in addition to a number of ARLIS-specific lectures and shared resources intended to raise awareness of NITAM issues and ways to help among ARLIS researchers and staff.
This September, as ARLISans continue to research the complexities of insider threats and embrace innovative solutions, NITAM activities help us remember that the key to a secure and resilient organization is our ability to anticipate, adapt, and act before threats have a chance to disrupt our mission.