Thoughts from the new Director

Following Jeff Wieringa in any job is always a pleasure and DSCA is no exception. He left this organization and the security cooperation community in general, in very good shape. Across the board we are staffed with outstanding people, resourced appropriately, and organized for success. As Jeff goes off to drive fast cars, planes and watercraft, he leaves behind a vibrant and professional community. Jeff, we wish you and Twink all the best in your future plans.

It has been a fast paced first month in the job, with much of the time spent on the road visiting with our US and international customers, working with our partners at the Implementing Agencies and materiel commands and meeting with industry. At every stop I hear positive comments on DSCA’s performance and the quality of the people who work here. Those comments are invariably followed by requests to continue to increase the speed, flexibility, and agility of our efforts to provide security cooperation products. There are many initiatives currently underway covering the entire length of the security cooperation process from requirements setting through case development, case execution, acquisition and delivery. All of them promise to support the needs and desires of our customers. In subsequent posts, I will discuss in greater depth those specific efforts as well as those new initiatives that I know will spring up from the creative folks in the security cooperation community.

As I sign off, I would like to thank all of you who completed your training as part of the drive to enhance the security cooperation community’s knowledge and skills. We have a goal of getting at least 95% of the entire security cooperation community of more than 10,000 people trained to their appropriate level by 1 October 2011 and had set an interim goal of 80% of those funded by FMS administrative funds trained by 1 October 2010. I am happy to announce that we were at 82.1% for FMS admin funded folks and 73.5% for the entire community as of 1 Oct. Well done!! If you have not completed your training yet, please get it on the TO DO list and complete it early in the year. If you have any question or issues, contact the folks at DISAM or send me a note and we will help you work through the issue. For us to be able to meet the challenges ahead we must start from a strong foundation of a trained community.

I am excited and honored to be the Director of DSCA and a member of this great security cooperation community. I look forward to meeting many of you during my travels or in Washington DC.