Here’s a tip for helping to smooth a Defense Security Service inspection of your security program before the inspection even occurs. It may even help to boost the rating your security program gets.
Back when I was the FSO of a sizable facility of BAE Systems, our Defense Security Service Industrial Security Representative gave me a call to schedule an inspection of our security program. I had only been on the job two or three months. I hadn’t had nearly enough time to correct the discrepancies I found in the security program, nor to implement the improvements I had in mind. To make matters worse, he wasn’t giving me that much advance notice. I think it may have been only a few weeks. But my instinct is generally to step right up to a challenge, so I agreed to his requested inspection date without hesitation. He seemed pleased. Once I got off the phone, though, I was concerned by the small window of time I had. Fortunately, I worked my butt off in the next few weeks and got almost everything implemented that I wanted to. And my security program ended up getting the highest possible rating: Superior.
Though there were numerous factors that inclined the Defense Security Service IS Rep to give my security program that uncommonly high rating, there was one thing he mentioned that you can make use of, too. He said that when he contacted me to schedule the inspection, I didn’t hem and haw, and I didn’t delay it at all. I just agreed to the date he suggested, without equivocation. He explained that Defense Security Service IS Reps like to see a Facility Security Officer’s confidence in their security program. So if at all possible, accommodate your DSS IS Rep’s requested inspection date without delay… Of course, we can help prepare you and your security program for that inspection—but you already knew that.