Rick Oprendek

Director of Programs

 

Rick is a 30 year veteran of contractor support to the

Intelligence Community, DoD and commercial businesses. 

His experiences are the result of his day-to-day practice

of a variety of professional security disciplines including

Security training and education, cyber, physical, OPSEC,

information systems, personnel, acquisition security,

security risk management and Program Protection (P2).

 

He began his security career managing a Document Control office for TRW eventually moving into the Information Security field.  In 1987, TASC hired Rick to run their information security program where he was among the first students to graduate from a CIA developed certification program and becoming one of their first Certified Information System Security Representatives (CISSR).   For five years he was a board officer and member of the East Coast Chapter’s Contractor Automated Information System Security Working Group.  (CAISSWG).  CAISSWG provided countless input to the Agency’s early Computer Security Policies known as DCID 6/3 and was a part of a team providing input into the first National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM). 

 

 In 1993, Rick provided security engineering and management expertise to TASC’s government clients.  He was responsible for technical, analytical, and programmatic support to the Agency’s Security office in the development, implementation, and maintenance of system security.  He integrated computer security and system development activities of a secure laptop computer program known as SLAPSHOT.  This system allowed for the secure use of a laptop computer in either a classified or an unclassified mode of operation.

 

In 1995, Rick built a team to provide a variety of security services which included the development of policies and procedures, and the integration of life-cycle security into the day-to-day operations of NRO programs, such as classification management, information system security, and personnel security. 

 

Pulling on all the various security disciplines, Rick developed the concept of Program Protection Engineering (P2E), which takes a holistic view of protection methodologies for an entire program, incorporating security disciplines such as Analytic Risk Management (ARM) in initial program designs.  These include traditional security activities such as personnel security and security education, and various activities such as cover, and open source collection and analysis to help insure these sensitive programs fulfilled their missions without compromise. 

 

From 2001 to 2014, Rick managed a Security Engineering Department, consisting of seven Section Managers, and two CLN leads who supervised an aggregate of 45 junior, mid, and senior level security engineers and non-technical personnel.  He was responsible for revenues, budgets, training, marketing, employee welfare; he led professional staffing and strategic development of P2 Professionals and Information Security experts; implemented company staff development plans, training, and recruiting. To assist the security practitioner, he also managed two IRAD efforts that including a patented P2 Toolkit and an automated Portion Marking Verification Tool (PMVT). 

 

In 2015, Rick joined the Special Aerospace Security Services Inc. (SASSi) team as a program director supporting their National Security Training Institute (NSTI) training programs and strategic planning activities.  Rick is also the Director of Programs at SCIF Constructors and Electronics, LLC. which is an industry leader in the planning and construction of secure facilities.  In his spare time, Rick enjoys golf, stock analysis, investing, and camping.