The NSI IMPACT Training Framework was developed by industry security executives to make security professionals more valuable to their employer and more successful in their career.
Year to year details of the program may change but NSI IMPACT ’24 is built on the pillars of our optimized training framework.
Attendees of IMPACT Training Stand Out
Find out why this is the event your boss wants you to attend
The Case for Attending is
Straightforward
The value proposition of NSI IMPACT is very clear for both attendee and manager.
- Smoother NISPOM compliance
- Leverage security programs for business benefit
- Make programs more efficient and cost-effective
- Learn how to remove roadblocks
- Discover new government resources
- Stay up to date on changing requirements
- Understand evolving security threats
- Learn new approaches to risk mitigation
- Be prepared to manage changing systems
- Get clarification on policy and process
- Up-level communication skills
- Work more collaboratively with stakeholders
- Strengthen ability to advise decision-makers
- Return to work energized with new ideas, insights, contacts and perspectives that will make you more productive and successful.
Get What You Need to Stay on Top of NISPOM Compliance
NISPOM Compliance
NISPOM Compliance is a key pillar in the NSI IMPACT Training Framework.
Stay on top and get ahead of NISPOM issues. Get everything you need from government and industry sources to manage changes in policy, requirements, systems, processes and people.
The role of the FSO is undergoing rapid and dramatic transformation. While NISPOM compliance is a core responsibility, today’s FSO is tasked with educating their Senior Management Official (SMO) as well as other key department heads regarding security threats to people, processes and technology. As Trusted Workforce 2.0 takes hold, you’ll want to stay ahead of NISP priorities that will shape security policy for years to come.
You’ll get the big picture view from DCSA and insights into what’s coming up in the future, the things you need to start thinking about now. You also get an inside view into the most pressing issues of the year, with plenty of opportunity to ask questions and engage with government and industry colleagues on solutions and practical steps you can take to make compliance smoother and easier.
NISPOM security compliance is essential to the success of every cleared facility. It’s the key that keeps the door open for your company to bid on lucrative, classified contracts. When the financial stakes are this high, you don’t want to leave anything to chance-especially your security program.
An effective security program can literally mean the difference between success and failure for your company or agency. You want your security team to be proactive and ahead of the curve to keep the company and its employees out of harm’s way. You want to know that your team has a good working relationship with other departments like IT, HR and Legal as well as government regulators and DCSA.
Topics and Skills Focus at IMPACT
NISPOM Compliance at IMPACT generally addresses topics and skills like these listed below. The exact sessions offered in our program differ from year to year.
Hear directly from the DCSA Director and other top leaders as they explain current priorities and the areas of emphasis you need to be aware of.
Stay ahead and be prepared for what’s coming next with insights into changing requirements and initiatives on the horizon. Get details from the leader of DCSA’s Industrial Security Program. Ask questions and learn from the questions of your peers. Come hear from the Director of DOHA so you can better understand the adjudication process.
When it comes to systems and process, each new year brings new improvements and also new challenges. You have to be up to date in order to to execute your program smoothly.
Find out what you need to know about issues like the NBIS rollout and Classified Information Systems Processing. Understand the evolving nature of these complex projects so you can be prepared and not caught off guard by timelines or requirements. Take advantage of this opportunity to engage with DCSA and get your questions answered. Learn from the questions your peers are asking.
There are many dimensions of the clearance process that can make your work challenging. From changing processes to new systems to evolving points of emphasis.
Take advantage of this opportunity to engage with DCSA and ask your questions, get clarification, find out who to talk to when you need support throughout the year. Learn what you need to know about mental health policy, how to prevent clearance hiccups, backlog management, the evolution of Trusted Workforce 2.0 and more. Not only will you learn directly from DCSA, you’ll learn through interaction with your peers during Q&A and networking sessions.
It can be a real challenge to stay up to date and master the details of NISPOM Rule requirements, especially the challenging and complex areas where policy makers are endeavoring to balance effectiveness with “implement-ability”.
Learn how to think about these kinds of policy initiatives, how to be prepared even when details can seem unclear. Learn what you need to know about issues like protection of CUI (controlled unclassified information) and CMMC (cybersecurity maturity model certification). Understand what’s need to comply with requirements like SEAD 3 Reporting and a satisfactory Insider Threat Program.
It’s very important to establish relationships and lines of communication long before issues arise. Learn how to have a productive relationship with DCSA representatives and inspectors.
Find out when, how and where to get the information you need. Make personal contacts that will come in handy during the year. Participate in Q&A sessions to get real life feedback and candid interactions with your peers and with government officials. Learn about free resources and programs in the federal government that you can take advantage of to make your program more effective and efficient.
A Unique Networking
Environment
At right around 500 attendees, NSI IMPACT is an ideal environment for having great conversations, exchanging ideas and making new connections in industry and government that will last your whole career.
You’ll find it easy to get into good conversations in an intimate venue. You’ll be surprised how much you learn just talking to colleagues, swapping stories and discussing the thought provoking presentations and workshops you attend.
The lively Q&A sessions will enable you to identify the folks you can learn from and the ones you can help.
Make Yourself More Valuable By Contributing to Business Objectives
Value Beyond Compliance
Value Beyond Compliance is a key pillar in the NSI IMPACT Training Framework.
Learn how security professionals can contribute to business goals and become an effective cross-functional partner. Become more business-minded by learning skills and approaches that equip you to contribute at a higher level.
Learning how to go beyond compliance benefits you in two key ways.
It makes you much more valuable to your boss and your company, which enhances your career prospects and opens new doors for you. It will also make your work life easier and more rewarding. It’s no secret you’ve got a lot on your plate. By learning business skills from experienced leaders you’ll find your work goes much smoother and your contributions are easier for everyone to see and appreciate.
You want more out of your FSO and security team than simply keeping you out of trouble with regulators. You want them to understand the organization’s strategic goals and mission and become a business enabler rather than a business disabler.
You want security to constructively solve problems, provide informed advice, have “reasonable” controls in place and avoid being a department of “No”. Your security team needs to learn the secret to getting to “Yes” with business partners.
Topics and Skills Focus at IMPACT
Value Beyond Compliance at IMPACT generally addresses topics and skills like these listed below. The exact sessions offered in our program differ from year to year.
As a security professional there is a lot you can do to support your company’s financial health. In an industry where compliance makes or breaks business, security should be ready to add value beyond compliance.
Learn how you can do just that by understanding how security professionals in other organizations add value to key business activities and processes such as business development, proposals, contracts, acquisition, cost estimation and more.
As a support function, it’s critical that you know how to explain and defend your budget requests in a way that the business understands and appreciates.
Learn how to establish and articulate your priorities with language that goes beyond “the government says so”. Understand realities of the larger financial picture so you can effectively participate in the budgeting process yourself. Discover ways to extend the benefits of your program spend to other business risks in addition to mitigation of compliance risk.
Whatever your career aspirations, you will benefit tremendously (and so will your organization) from learning what it means to become a business-minded security professional.
Your job will get easier, your boss will pleased with your contributions and you’ll be seen in a whole new light. Learn how to interpret NISP CFR 32 “spirit of intent” vs. letter of the law. Acquire the skills required to find a pathway to “yes” with your cross functional partners rather than being known as a “no” person. Learn practical steps you can take to understand your company’s business. Make sure you know what your boss really needs from you. Find out how to positively represent the security function as you interact with others in the business.
Your own job satisfaction and the perception of others are both tightly connected to your ability to communicate.
Learn how to talk persuasively to non-security people about security and compliance issues. Maintain effective stakeholder engagement inside and outside the organization. Find out how to explain the big picture risk/reward of a program that protects all your valuable assets, not just what’s classified. Get tips for communicating the importance of having a security-engaged culture.
Make Your Program More Efficient and Effective
Program Efficiency
Program Efficiency is a key pillar in the NSI IMPACT Training Framework.
Learn best practices for getting the most out of your resources. Make your programs easier to run and more effective. Learn the secrets to prioritization and defending the ROI of your program.
Security teams are often seen as a cost center and so it can be a challenge to secure a sufficient budget. Learn ways to go from cost center to value creator while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of your security program.
Adding value makes you stand out and your job easier. Demonstrating efficiency improves your opportunity to secure further investment. Take back to work practical action steps you can implement right away. Get a new perspective on how to strategically prioritize your resources and your mental energy.
Today, security teams are forced to do more with the same. At the heart of this challenge is the ability to focus on the things that really matter-this is the essence of security efficiency. It’s the ability to be attentive to the real security threats.
Another aspect of efficiency is the off-loading of tasks that are necessary but lend themselves to strategic outsourcing. For instance, security awareness training could be outsourced, saving valuable time, energy and resources. In the end, security should be an efficiency tool, not a sunk cost. It’s all about finding the perfect balance between productivity and protection.
Topics and Skills Focus at IMPACT
Program Efficiency at IMPACT generally addresses topics and skills like these listed below. The exact sessions offered in our program differ from year to year.
Get credit for running an efficient program by demonstrating how and explaining why you’re doing it.
Learn the best ways to explain improvements in business and financial terms. Learn how to assess and articulate the maturity level of your program. How to know when it makes business sense to acquire a technology solution. Find out how to know if the case for outsourcing is a good one. Discover ways to leverage outside resources and share costs with other organizations.
Even though this is a security 101 fundamental, your security education, training and awareness program can easily become less than cost-effective if not run efficiently.
It can also seem overwhelming. Come learn all they ways you can take your program from good to great. Understand the purpose of each element within SETA and how to prioritize your efforts, and budget accordingly. Get tips for making security education stick. Hear new ideas for creating security awareness. Learn how to set up and optimize your training communication plan. Find out how to tailor awareness for different types of people in your organization. Know how to best educate executives while being respectful of their busy schedules.
The requirements of your insider threat program must be understood and the execution sufficiently documented in order to meet compliance. The execution part can be done efficiently, or not so efficiently.
Find out what you need to understand about the requirement, and get the keys to running an effective and efficient insider threat program. Whether you’re the ITPSO or part of the team that’s expected to contribute, take back practical know-how to your organization. Learn how to get more bang for your buck to protect all valuable assets from insider threats. Get tips for engaging employees. Learn how to engage committee members and not waste their time. Learn insider threat mitigation strategies. Find out how anyone can start using data to support a stronger and more effective program. Learn the keys to working collaboratively with HR and other functions.
Get tips for making the internal clearance process faster. Learn creative ways to educate people on reporting requirements. Learn elicitation techniques and countermeasures. Make your visitor management process more automated. Protect your people from social engineering attacks and social media exploitation. Guidance for handling physical security threats and countermeasures to employ. Learn how to develop a disaster recovery plan. Put in place a response and education plan for active shooter scenarios.
The security of what is valuable is maintained across multiple disciplines, which is why it is critical for non-technical and technical security professionals to understand and appreciate each other’s domains.
Learn how industrial security can contribute to strong cybersecurity. Discover ways to achieve better collaboration with IT. Understand the keys to getting your systems approved. Be knowledgeable enough to advise and contribute to overall CMMC preparedness. Learn how to bring your own expertise to bear on the human side of cybersecurity.
A Program That Makes
An Impact
Business leaders and your manager will tell you that the employees who stand out in any support function, such as security, are the ones who have acquired a business-mindset.
These professionals take not only their core duties seriously, they understand that they’re a part of a much larger team with an overall shared business mission.
The NSI IMPACT program is designed to give you everything you need to successfully execute your responsibilities in a way that simultaneously serves the operational and competitive goals of the larger organization.
Return to work energized and equipped with well-rounded learning experience:
- NISPOM Compliance
- Value Beyond Compliance
- Program Efficiency
- Security Threats & Risk
Develop a Deeper Understanding of Evolving Security Threats
Security Threats & Risk
Security Threats & Risk is a key pillar in the NSI IMPACT Training Framework.
Develop a deeper understanding of current and emerging threats directly from the experts. Learn to effectively articulate risks so you can bring a knowledgeable and credible perspective to decision-makers.
Your role in the National Industrial Security Program is vital to the United States and your company.
Implementing policy in a way that protects classified information, plus adds value to your business is the goal of every proactive FSO. The quickest way to lose value is to stop learning. Acquire the knowledge and perspective you need to understand and articulate to others the fast changing landscape of security threats and the rationale behind the rules.
Today, foreign intelligence services, cybercriminals, and industrial spies are aggressively targeting U.S. technology and defense secrets. Organizations have never faced a more extreme or diverse attack surface. Keeping up with today’s threat landscape has become a business imperative to retain your company’s security clearance and competitive edge.
As a business executive or CSO, you want to rely on your security team to keep you informed on the latest threats to your operations along with risk mitigation strategies to minimize the threat-whether from inside or outside of the organization. You want your security team to develop a strong security culture where everyone’s on the same page, understanding the threats to our nation, the company and their jobs.
Topics and Skills Focus at IMPACT
Security Threats & Risk at IMPACT generally addresses topics and skills like these listed below. The exact sessions offered in our program differ from year to year.
You understand better than anyone why your security program matters. Deepen that understanding so you can better advise leadership and persuasively educate the people in your program.
Receive multiple addresses from senior officials on key threats to U.S. technology secrets and competitive advantage. Participate in a deep dive into specific nation-state threats. Get up to speed on the latest cyberthreats to watch out for. Understand how social engineering attacks work and how to mitigate them. Learn about the methods of approach used by bad actors and spies. Stay up to date on the increasing threats from nation-state and corporate espionage. Be aware of evolving and increasing threat of terrorism to the U.S. defense industrial base and critical infrastructure.
Security is largely about identifying and managing acceptable levels of risk, and then mitigating those risks within the bounds of allocated resources. It’s important to know how to talk about risk with decision-makers and it’s important to identify effective risk mitigation strategies.
Discover the best ways to communicate risk to the business. Understand your role as advisor to decision-makers regarding risk tolerance. Learn how to assess and plan for emerging risks like generative AI. Understand how cyber psychology can be leveraged to lower the risk of cyber breaches. Find out how to incorporate human behavior insights into your program. Gain a better understanding of how non-technical security folks can contribute to cybersecurity risk mitigation.
The negative consequences to your company that can explode from the inside is astronomical. And that potential for damage extends well beyond the compromise of classified information. An insider threat can hurt your company across the board.
Understand the scope of the problem for small and large organizations alike. Understand the extent of damage done by insider threats to U.S. interests and to business interests. Find out what the most practical-to-implement best practices are. Learn from case studies and lessons learned the hard way. Make sure you can articulate how failure to consistently drive security awareness increases the insider threat risk. Learn the keys to building an efficient and effective insider threat program on a limited budget.
Participate in briefings and presentations from key law enforcement, security and counter intelligence agencies. Expand your understanding of what federal agencies are focused on and your critical role within the overall security of U.S. interests.
Learn about ways to collaborate, support and receive support from various government agencies. Leverage agency resources, expertise and information sharing. Hear specific briefings from top leaders at agencies like the NSA on cyberthreats to classified networks, the FBI on economic espionage trends and indicators, NCTC on trends in global and domestic terrorism, NCSC on countering FIE threats and best practices, and more. Participate in Q&A sessions with these leaders.
April 29 – May 1 / Chantilly, Virginia / Westfields Marriott