Facility Security Officers must support NISPOM requirements over a growing enterprise. Classified information must be protected through adding security personnel and/or expanding facilitates.

1. FSO Series
A CL E A R A NCE JOB S SPECI A L R EP OR T
Preparing for Business Growth —
An FSO’s Role
by Jeffrey W. Bennett, Industrial Security Professional (ISP), for ClearanceJobs.com
Business growth affects the storage or volume. When the FSO does not have credibility
or influence, they will not be prepared to project the
entire enterprise. In the best
growth and will constantly be trying to catch up with the
case, employees are actively work. Such a posture costs plenty in company overhead.
engaged in making the company
successful. Each business unit does its part to Adding Security Personnel
meet deadlines, support the contract or perform Additional contracts or change in performance measures
on the contract per the statement of work and may require additional security personnel. A sudden
growth in security storage, additional cleared projects, or
expectations. The worst position for any unit to added facilities, could provide opportunities to hire more
be in is failing to project the growth and causing personnel to support the increased work load. The FSO
should be prepared to provide specific job requirements
a bottleneck in production.
for security positions. Professional growth potential
and management potential, technical competence, and
A Successful Growth Strategy necessary security administrations skills will help the
hiring manager search for and select qualified candidates.
When a defense contractor business grows, the engaged
Potential security professionals should not only be U.S.
cleared facility security officer (FSO) should be prepared
citizens with security clearances, as required by the
for that growth. The FSO should continue development
National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual
and maintenance of relationships with employees and
(NISPOM) but demonstrate competence in the tasks they
key business units. Such interaction allows the FSO to
are asked to do and a desire to perform. They should also
forecast requirements for the storage of classified material,
have the ability to grasp and teach concepts of security to
performance of classified work and the protection of the
help keep the security fresh in the corporate culture.
enterprises employees, products, and capital.
An FSO should have credibility with the senior management Establishing Procedures
and ability to contribute to a successful growth strategy.
The FSO and security specialists should work toward
They should be able to recommend requirements for hiring
establishing operating procedures and a job performance
and training additional security employees, accurately
calculating classified inventory storage and managing
classified performance needs. The FSO should be able to
address unique contract opportunities such as: classified
projects, new facility or alternate locations with new
physical security expectation and an increase in classified

2. description. New employees can become successful where the largest growth potential concerning classified
faster with formalized certification training. This training holdings would arise. Some resources or tools would be
could reflect the companyʼs policies as they support the database where classified information is logged. The
NISPOM requirements and the overall enterprise culture. NISPOM identifies this as the Information Management
The training and certification program should be unique System. Such information would be useful to help project
to the organization and lined with milestones that where the organization might be in five years at the
eventually allow new employees to work unsupervised current and projected growth rates.
after demonstrating an understanding of government
regulations and company policy. Good sources for Database research can prevent hasty and inaccurate
developing such a program include the NISPOM and decisions. For example, an untrained employee may
requirements identified in contract statements of work assume that growth would require additional storage
and the DD Forms 254 issued with each classified shelves for paper documents. However, the security
contract. During the education, the new employee can department may be generating and receiving more DVD
enroll in additional training provided by the government media and fewer paper products as evidenced in receipts
on-line and in residence, lessons provided by company and file data. The FSO would dig deep to find information.
personnel and any training offered directly under Good databases can break down inventory by year,
their managerʼs supervision. With a good training or quarter, or any other necessary date range useful for
certification plan in place, much of the employeeʼs projecting future needs. Such research could help identify
success can be measured within the first 30 days. classified information that can be destroyed or otherwise
eliminated from storage. This would free space and save
on future storage and inventory costs. Such a move can
Expanding Facilities save tens of thousands of dollars annually in employee
New opportunities for growth can manifest through and storage costs, increase the FSOs value and possibly
additional contracts, modification or renewal of current provide a career boost for the FSO.
contracts. New requirements could call for additional
facilities for the storage of classified material or the
performance of unique work in closed areas. Whether The Role of an FSO
constructing new buildings or modifying current facilities As a manager of a vital business department, the FSO
for unique classified work, the job calls for planning, should be credible and influential. When an FSOʼs
budgeting, and compliance. The FSO is critical to leadership provides cost reduction through saving
forecasting the unique needs and regulatory requirements. resources, time, and finding other alternatives while
remaining compliant they establish great credibility.
A new defense contractor may not have all the facilities in Shareholders at all levels value such behavior and begin
place for future growth but should be constantly preparing to invite such leadersʼ input with growth and other
for solutions as they bid on contracts. For example, strategy plans. Forward thinking FSOs play a valuable
suppose a defense contractor needs a conference room role in protecting our nationʼs secrets, predicting costs,
to host classified meetings. The FSO would research the requirements and help plan for the successful execution
requirements and estimated costs of building or modifying and defense of classified contracts. ★ ★ ★
space for such a conference room and present it to the
executives and senior officers at a minimum. The FSOʼs
presentation would cover controls necessary to eliminate
Jeffrey W. Bennett, ISP, is a former Army officer, FSO and is
unauthorized disclosure. Such controls include: limiting
an accomplished writer of security books and periodicals.
access to the room, the conference phone capabilities, the
His books include ISP Certification-The Industrial Security
projectors, overhead ceiling panels, doors and other areas
Professional Exam Manual. He is the owner of Red Bike
requiring protection measures and inspections. Finally
Publishing (www.redbikepublishing.com).
approval from the cognizant security agency is necessary
once the plan was complete.
The FSO also looks into their security organization to
address internal growth. They would conduct research on
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