DSCA Director's Blog

Here you will find thoughts and messages from the Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency and his staff.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Training

Recently I had the opportunity to brief the Deputy Secretary of Defense and senior Department of Defense leaders on the DOD high priority performance goal that is the responsibility of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

This goal is to ensure that at least 95 percent of the security cooperation workforce has been trained. Currently, of the more than 9,000 personnel, we have just under 70 percent trained. Our short term goal is to be above 80 percent by the end of this fiscal year, with the ultimate goal being more than 95 percent by the end of fiscal year 2011.

Ron Reynolds, the director of our Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management, has the lead for collecting the data and providing the training.

The deeper we got into this project, the harder it got. As we looked at the world of security cooperation, we’ve found there are many more people working in this area than we realized.

Training, whether it’s for our workforce or for our partners, is always at the forefront of security cooperation. This is discussed in the latest edition of “Partners,” DSCA’s quarterly online magazine.

And any discussion about training and security cooperation has to include our legal instructors at the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies. From Congo to Afghanistan, these folks are making a difference around the world.

And finally, our partnership with the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, continues to benefit the security cooperation community. Graduates of the Global Master of Arts degree program help to expand the pool of highly trained security cooperation professionals.

To read the latest issue of "Partners" follow this link:
http://www.dsca.mil/newsletter/E-Partners_0410.pdf

4 comments:

  1. Vice Admiral Jeffrey A. Wieringa,
    As an intern here at CECOMs division of SAMD, I appreciate your efforts to ensure that the DSCA workforce of tomorrow is adequately trained, so that we can better handle the challenges that lie ahead. Especially with the current shift in the workforce, and the great loss of knowledge that we will undoubtedly face in the coming years. I would like to know though if there are any current efforts to ensure that all the interns that work for any part of DSCA (USASAC, SAMD, etc) recieve the same quality of training and that they get all the information that they need in order to be successful? I can only speak of my experience thus far here at the SAMD division of CECOM at Ft. Montmouth, and from what I gather, there is not an official training regimine for us as interns in SAMD, and we are kind of going about things in a somewhat unstructured manner. I would really like to be a well trained individual that thoroughly understands all the different aspects of Security Assistance, and how the different functions of the job work together. I would really appreciate you getting back to me in the near future regarding the topic, and to see what your opinion is. Thanks for your time, and for your continued efforts to improve the DSCA workforce. Phillip.hubbs@us.army.mil

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice Post! People are increasingly turning to Online Security Training in these times.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the question. Our intern program at DSCA is being developed in conjunction with our emerging Human Capital Strategy – as the plan evolves, interns assigned to DSCA will have well defined performance objectives and training/developmental programs before we consider bringing an intern on-board. That ensures a worthwhile experience for both the intern and the Agency.

    Although I cannot speak directly for the SAMD Division of CECOM (it is not one of the organizations under my direct control), I would direct you to your immediate supervisor who should be able to help provide the training/developmental programs you desire.

    There are numerous training opportunities available through our distance learning capability offered by the Defense Institute for Security Assistance Management (DISAM) – you can find them on the web at http://www.disam.dsca.mil/.

    I’d encourage you to try the two hour course, or if you are really gung-ho take the 16 hour on line course. Then send us some feedback of what you thought.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post, and the great opportunity to got valuable knowledge from Vice Admiral Jeffrey A. Wieringa. Thanks for this post.

    ReplyDelete