I hope your 4th of July was spent in a most productive way -- even if that way was relaxing and reflecting on our founding fathers and the establishing of our great country.  My husband and I spent the day running an extra two lines of gaucho wire -- upgrading a 4 foot fence to at least 6 feet.  Cookie, our black Watusi bull, decided to test the proverb of the grass being greener  on the other side of the fence.  Or maybe he wanted to expand his herd.   Either way, we spent an afternoon reviewing the fence and calculating what was needed to discourage additional jumping on Cookie's part, the 4th was spent running the gaucho wire strands, and the next morning we walked the line to be sure that all was as it should be.

Sometimes it takes an event or the threat of an event to spur greater attention to your physical security or to business continuity.  A better use of our time as security specialists would be to schedule regular reviews of various aspects of our program including whether we have someone trained to step up when we go on vacation or God Forbid, a bus hits us or worse. 

Remember that while we are not all afforded the budget for an Alternate, there should be some plan in place.  Someone who is being groomed to step up in emergencies, when you are on vacation, or at least to provide the minimum of support required by your facility or agency.  This support can come in the form of an FSO Surrogate as long as you realize that you can not refer to this person as your "Temporary FSO."  DSS is very particular about the verbiage used to describe your support.  An FSO is required by the NISPOM to be an employee.  An FSO Surrogate is a consultant and therefore not a temporary FSO.

Have a suggested topic you would like to see addressed?  Email ajsconsulting@earthlink.net. 

Would you like to see other pictures of our Watusi herd?  Checkout the Walker Country Watusi Facebook page -- https://www.facebook.com/WalkerCountryWatusi.

Here are some tips and techniques that I and others have found useful, if you have any you wish to share please email them to ajsconsulting@earthlink.net.

• Access JPAS and check notifications every other day or at least weekly;
• Access JPAS and print your Periodic Reinvestigation Report and Personnel Eligibility Report once every quarter and
• Review the previous investigation close dates;
• Review the access Eligibility and access granted;
• Review the date of birth, place of birth, and Non-Disclosure Agreement (NdA) for changes;
• Perform your required Self Inspection at least 6 months between your last Security Vulnerability Review and the next scheduled one;
• Have a 3rd-Party review/perform a Self Inspection
• Provided she either has a Need-to-Know or is restricted from accessing classified; or
• She is from the Home Office or other Branch, etc.
• Have the FBI or Local DSS CI or other Government Agency Representative provide a briefing to management and staff;
• Have your FSO and other security staff review the new FSO curriculum;
• Double check when you last had an Annual Refresher briefing and update it with information from the latest Technology Trends brochure;
• Review any certifications like Approval to Operates (ATOs) or Interim Approval to Operates (IATOs) to ensure that you remain able to process and know when you need to resubmit;
• Remember when you move you must submit a Disestablishment Letter and
• Resubmit with a new UID
• Get out of your office and mingle with staff and management; and
• Attend project kickoff meetings;
• Attend completion meetings;
• Ask if there are any questions or concerns;
• Stay aware of the mood and direction of staff and management
• Review your classified holdings either every 6 months or at least annually

Interested in discovering more tips and techniques?  Register now for AJ's Consulting's FSO/SSO Personnel Security Administration, or schedule a NISPOM Compliance -- Complying with Expectations Webinar.