Prestigious Award Given to Less Than 1% of Cleared Government Defense Contractors

 General Dynamics announced on the 24^th of June that four of its facilities – located in Chesapeake – were awarded the James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Award. The Cogswell award is the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Defense Security Service (DSS), a federal security agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. Of the more than 13,300 cleared companies, less than 1 percent are annually selected to receive this award.

"General Dynamics is proud to be among the select few companies to receive the Cogswell award," said Daniel Johnson, executive vice president of General Dynamics Information Systems and Technology. "This honor underscores our commitment to providing the highest level of security at our facilities and ensuring that classified information is protected."

General Dynamics’ facilities were chosen for their industrial security excellence, which includes establishing and maintaining a security program that goes well beyond the minimum National Industrial Security Program requirements and providing leadership to other cleared facilities to set high standards for security. To receive consideration for the Cogswell award, a facility must be nominated by their assigned industrial security representative, have two consecutive superior industrial security review ratings and show a sustained degree of excellence and innovation in their overall security program management, implementation and oversight. Once nominated, the facilities go through a vigorous national vetting process that includes external vetting and a national team review.

General Dynamics’ Chesapeake facility provides professional and technical services for the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command, U.S. Coast Guard and other government agencies. Among the capabilities at the site are fleet support, logistics, ship repair, modernization and conversion, systems engineering and system integration. As a major prime contractor, the company’s security operations include enforcing compliance with all requirements, as well as training and mentoring subcontractors, teammates and other contractors conducting similar work in security processes and procedures, and managing General Dynamics’ own policies. General Dynamics’ Chesapeake facility’s security team includes Facility Security Officer (FSO) Sal Gulisano, Assistant FSO Kelley Mullenniex and Onsite Operations Vice President Tom Ternes.