Stephanie Bender Email & Phone Number

Alexandria, Va, Us

Worldwide, Oo

Client: The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Office of Partner Engagement (OPE) serves as the integration point for the Bureau’s intelligence sharing relationship with state, local, tribal, territorial, international, and fusion center law enforcement entities.  Managed strategic and day to day operations of three, 2-person workstreams focused on developing sustainable intelligence sharing solutions to address complex integration challenges across entities with widely varying capabilities and priorities.  Developed an all-source solutioning guide for state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement entities to stand up open and all source analysis for critical incident response while addressing the challenges posed by misinformation.  Oversaw development and standup of a tableau dashboard, to provide additional analysis capabilities and historical insights to the FBI’s Active Shooter Database team.  Facilitated dozens of quick turn-around, all source data collection and analysis efforts to prepare FBI and DOJ officials to brief law enforcement following major events (Ex. Mass Shootings).

Worldwide, Oo

Client: Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Operational Risk and Case Studies Branch (ORCS) is responsible for tracking and reporting progress on addressing known capability gaps and providing a risk review of all TSA policy. Led 3-person team to maintain and improve Security Vulnerability Management Process (SVMP), a model to address known system vulnerabilities and the TSA Administrators’ top priorities. Maintained a broad range of visualization, support mitigation across the agency and provide frequency progress reporting to senior leadership. Oversee overhaul of ORCS’ methodology to reflect the process used by the two mature risk products. Realized the creation of a uniform strategic front across the division and helped attain additional funding for key risk priorities. Facilitated dozens of quick turn-around, congruent strategic risk assessments on topics across the mission space to inform decisionmakers of risk implications of policy changes. Developed a process to solicit vulnerability information, mitigation action milestones, and Research and Development (R&D) progress across TSA. Created database to record and track stakeholder feedback. Created method to transition SVMP data into Tableau to translate complicated and classified risk topics to deliver visualization for executive audiences to support decision-making on key issues. Developed qualitative profiles of adversary characteristics for comparison with simulated adversaries present in ADM to demonstrate the credibility of ADM’s simulation and analysis.

Worldwide, Oo

Client: TSA’s Risk and Trade Space Portfolio Analysis (RTSPA) provides DHS with the ability to assess changes in effectiveness and risk of the agency’s security system using industry standard analysis tools tailored to mission needs.  Product Owner for RTSPA, a SECRET level, mature model that produced an annual baseline assessment of security effectiveness for domestic passenger aviation, described TSA’s system security effectiveness against a variety of adversary archetypes. Included emerging threat scenarios and provided decisionmakers with a relative prioritization of potential investments and policy decisions based on projected mitigation of risk. Led team of 4 analytics practitioners focused on data analysis, modeling, and visualization of adversary threats, screening technology vulnerabilities and mission impacts. Ensured quick turnaround and strategic risk assessments to inform decision makers of the risk implications of policy changes. Developed a quantitative risk assessment methodology for the domestic passenger aviation system using SME elicitations for descriptions of adversary preference for various threat scenarios, lab and field-testing data to quantify system performance and vulnerabilities. Created and implemented the cleared Palisades toolset to allow expansion of a RTSPA to factor in uncertainty or random variation in possible threats. Ensured more accurate visualization and risk comparison. Led planning and execution of a long-term study to identify probable causes for increased firearms detection at TSA checkpoints. The study results informed procedural changes in the field, leading to more data collection and solutions-focused cross-agency collaboration.

Worldwide, Oo

Client: Office of Acquisition Program Management (APM) is responsible for protecting the nation’s transportation systems and supporting the TSA Mission by providing efficient and effective security technology solutions with applied research, development, operational testing, deployment, and lifecycle management of technologies to ensure the free movement of people and commerce. Deputy Project Manager for a 25+ member team for program execution support of three portfolios to drive risk- based prioritization and acquisitions of TSA checkpoint technologies. Created and executed a division-wide risk based streamlined data response process to address ongoing concerns for timely and accurate approval inquiries across the government. The process was requested by a senior client and was so well-received that it was implemented across the branch. Developed a project roadmap to identify gaps in known federal onboarding process requiring an overhaul to allow more effective onboarding of a diverse range of clients. The successful project included design of templates, maintenance of key documents, facilitation of training and collecting feedback for continuous improvement. Support the development of a new deployment and acquisitions strategy based on Threat, Vulnerability and Consequence equations leading to the prioritization of locations, features and technologies.

Worldwide, Oo

Client: The Department of Homeland Security stood up a large legal team in response to 20+ lawsuits concerning the administrations decisions to implement enhanced screening procedures and initiatives at the border. Specialists from across the agency were brought in to provide relevant context and background.  Managed and trained an integrated team of 10 FOIA processors and lawyers for development of procedures and workflow to deliver high-quality, high-value products in fast-paced environments. Continuously identified process improvements that delivered a quality control team that provided processing of additional client requests without delay in daily workflow. Created comprehensive trainings focused on assisting new practitioners in understanding Executive Orders, CBPs screening and vetting process, treatment of law-enforcement-sensitive materials, and Freedom of Information Act processing. Developed technical manuals and reference guides for complex CBP, DOJ and DHS systems to enable processors to more easily identify information and troubleshoot frequent technical issues

Worldwide, Oo

Client: Customs and Border Patrol created a team of specialized practitioners to create materials and briefings to support the onboarding on the new Acting Commissioner with a special focus on Vetting.  Provided support to a team of 4 practitioners for delivery of strategic, executive and ad hoc level briefings to the CBP CIO and his leadership team, while ensuring high-quality, high-value products with minimal context or lead time. Developed a strategic vision for the organization, along with a comprehensive package of materials for presentation to the CBP Commissioner for communication of OIT’s story across the Agency. Partnered with offices across CBP and engaged multiple CBP stakeholders to delivery priority special projects for the CBP CIP for Biometric Entry/Exit Integration with OBIM, Automated Commercial Environment Collections Post-Mortem Analysis, AirWatch Migration Planning and Transition.

Worldwide, Oo

Project: CBP Federal Fusion Center serves as the agency’s central hub for all domestic Entry and Exit vetting with Counter Networks Division serving as the integration point and investigative arm for individual data.  Supported a 2-person, client-facing team to deliver direct targeting and investigative support to the Counter Networks Divisions Counter Narcotics with communication of client needs for daily tasking and adaptation of deliverables to meet mission-specific needs Managed analysis of foreign and domestic corporate records, media, financial documents, trade and cargo data, social media network data and profile content, property records, business directories, subscription commercial datasets, and public directories to identify and map connectivity between individuals and corporate entities acting as key nodes in transnational illicit networks. Identified client’s internal capabilities via formal and informal instruction in social media analysis best practices, open-source data sources in foreign jurisdictions, 12 analyst notebook, and data analysis techniques. Delivered rapid response to Executive Orders, Congressional inquiries, legislative requests for the Department of Justice, and informational requests from Department and/or Agency leadership in support of the CND Director. Created monthly and quarterly reports to CND and NTC leadership using Tableau.

Barboursville, Va, Us