Northrop Grumman Corporation's Phil Mahoney, security manager of the company's San Antonio, Texas, facility, has been awarded the 2004 James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Award by the Department of Defense for an outstanding contractor security program. He received the award last week at ASIS International's 50th Annual Seminar & Exhibits in Dallas, Texas.
The James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Award is the most prestigious honor within the security-cleared industry. Of nearly 11,000 cleared government contractors, less than one tenth of one percent (less than 11 this year) is selected annually to receive this defense security service award.
"Phil has a history of establishing and leading successful security operations that set the standard in the industry," said Sidney Fuchs, president of Northrop Grumman Information Technology's TASC unit. "He has an excellent security program in place in San Antonio, with internal operating procedures that implement or exceed requirements."
The Cogswell Award's rigorous selection process involves nominations taken by assigned Defense Security Service (DSS) industrial security representatives, and three consecutive industrial security reviews. Nominations are then submitted throughout all levels of the DSS field organization for endorsement and vetting. A national review team consolidates and ranks the nominations, which in turn are submitted to senior management for final endorsement and approval.
In addition to security review results and internal operating procedures, other selection criteria include: an outstanding overall security program in which the contractor routinely resolves problems independently and is responsive to changes in the national security industrial security program; active support and involvement of management in maintaining an excellent security posture; facility security officer knowledge and professionalism; an absence of security violations that impact the integrity of security systems; an effective, ongoing security education and awareness program; support for Defense Dept. personnel security initiatives by all levels of management; and a program to limit the number of classified holdings in the facility.
The Cogswell Award was established in 1966 and named in honor of the late U.S. Air Force Col. James S. Cogswell, the first chief of the unified office of Industrial Security. Cogswell was responsible for developing the basic principles of the industrial security program, including the emphasis on partnership between industry and government to accomplish industrial security objectives, and excellence for the benefit of the U.S. warfighter.
Northrop Grumman Information Technology, based in Herndon, Va., is a trusted IT leader and premier provider of advanced IT solutions, engineering and business services for government and commercial clients. The company's expertise spans such areas as information systems integration; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; homeland security; enterprise hardware and software solutions; training and simulation; base and range support; signals intelligence; space systems; and specialized scientific, engineering and technical services.
