Stephanie L. Jaros is the Director of Research for the U.S. Department of Defense Counter-Insider Threat Program. Ms. Jaros founded The Threat Lab in 2018 as a centralized hub for social and behavioral science counter-insider threat research, integrating social sciences into insider threat training.
She joined ClearanceJobs for a conversation about insider threats and cultural intelligence, which is one part of a healthy workplace culture, and a trait of an unhealthy one if it is lacking. Cultural intelligence is a collection of skills related to a person’s ability to work effectively across culturally diverse situations. It goes beyond awareness and focuses instruction on developing and sustaining skill sets and capabilities.
According to Jaros, the relevance of cultural intelligence to security may not be readily apparent. But “behavior happens in context, and it results from a number of factors including our current environment and personal histories.”
ABOUT PERSEREC
The Defense Personnel and Security Research Center (PERSEREC) is a DoD organization dedicated to improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and fairness of DoD personnel suitability, security, and reliability systems. PERSEREC is part of the Office of People Analytics (OPA), which is a component of the Defense Human Resources Activity (DHRA) under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness).
To achieve its mission, researchers at PERSEREC:
- Conduct applied research and development to improve personnel suitability, security, and reliability policy and practice.
- Conduct long-term programmatic research and development for the human resource management, security, and intelligence communities.
- Provide quick-response studies and analyses in support of policy formation and systems operation.
- Disseminate research information to policymakers and practitioners.
- Develop innovative systems, tools, and job aids for policymakers, managers, and practitioners concerned with personnel suitability, security, and reliability.
Security professionals can view archived sessions, toolkits and other job aides from The Threat Lab through the Center for Development of Security Excellence.
