John (Neal) Latta, Assistant Administrator, Enrollment Services and Vetting Programs, Operations Support, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
With a career spanning a quarter-century, John (Neal) Latta stands as an embodiment of dedication, versatility, and efficacy within the homeland security sector. Whether integrating into new teams or spearheading groundbreaking projects, Neal’s commitment to the nation’s safety is unerring. He was instrumental during the foundational stages of the US-VISIT program, setting the gold standard for biometric technical and personnel capacities. Neal’s expertise further shone in his pivotal roles in the DHS Screening Coordination Office and his contributions to the Terrorist Screening Center and the National Counterterrorism Center, enhancing the nation’s watchlisting and screening capabilities.
Now, as TSA’s Assistant Administrator for Enrollment Services and Vetting Programs, Neal’s influence is more palpable than ever. His relentless pursuit of innovation has ushered in improvements for numerous programs, including TSA PreCheck, TWIC, HAZMAT, and international flight students. Esteemed across various interagency quarters, Neal is synonymous with problem-solving, collaboration, and addressing immediate needs with efficiency. In the ever-evolving landscape of homeland security, John (Neal) Latta remains a beacon of excellence.
Amy Reedy, Information Technology Manager, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
As the Director of the Technology Solutions Division within the Transportation Security Administration’s Office of Information Technology, Amy Reedy holds the reins of critical systems ensuring top-tier safety and security at U.S. transportation hubs. A visionary leader, Amy has been instrumental in refining and evolving pivotal programs like Secure Flight and Vetting & Credentialing Systems. Her knack for innovation is evident, having introduced SAFe agile processes and open-source technologies, notably cutting down manual efforts in the Secure Flight program by over 1,300 hours per Product Increment.
Under her direction, the TSA consistently vets over 2 million travelers daily, managing 15 million active TSA PreCheck participants. Amy’s commitment to the traveler’s convenience shines through her initiative to incorporate new enrollment providers like Telos and, soon, CLEAR. Handling programs like Secure Flight, which pre-screens up to 2 million passengers daily, and Vetting & Credentialing Systems, a consolidated platform for assessing security threats across various transportation roles, Amy’s leadership is pivotal in ensuring national security without compromising efficiency. As she continues to innovate and modernize TSA’s capabilities, travelers can be assured of heightened security and streamlined processes.
HOMELAND’S HUMAN FIREWALL
Homeland’s Human Firewall is a new award to recognize the tireless efforts and achievements of those keeping our cyber infrastructure protected.
Daniel Daly, Deputy Director, Information Assurance Division, TSA
Daniel Daly serves as the Deputy Director for TSA’s Information Assurance Division (IAD). He’s a former US Marine Officer who brings to TSA a wealth of experience in cybersecurity along with exemplary leadership skills which is evident in his daily interactions with over 55 government personnel and more than a hundred contractor support partners. Mr. Daly is responsible for a myriad of activities while serving as Acting Director of IAD and the Deputy Chief Information Security Officer. He has been instrumental in leading TSA’s Security Operations Center in achieving two consecutive designations by the Department of Homeland Security as a Cybersecurity Service Provider and Center of Excellence. He is a vital part of the Chief Information Security Officer’s leadership team ensuring the SOC is responsive to an evolving threat landscape where TSA faces over a billion security events on a monthly basis. Mr. Daly is a consummate representative of the Chief Information Officer’s office, ushering in new cybersecurity initiatives to support the TSA’s core mission to protect the nation’s systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. He serves as an excellent mentor to IAD leaders at varying levels, consistently leading by example and raising the bar for his peers. Mr. Daly provided subject matter expertise in the co-creation of the most recent TSA cybersecurity roadmap, integrating the TSA Enterprise cybersecurity key objectives for the next few years. He is also responsible for leading the TSA Zero Trust program; Mr. Daly established an integrated project team to comply with Executive Order 14028 and OMB 22-09. He has been the driving force to obtain additional funding in support of Zero Trust and the development of an effective strategic approach. Mr. Daly is an excellent partner, evident through his strong support of other program offices within TSA; for example, he provided critical input in the authoring of the most recent Security Directives for TSA’s industry partners. He also led his team to develop a new threat hunting activity which complimented the threat intelligence program under his Focus Operations Branch. Mr. Daly has also led a very effective team cyber engineers which are responsible for executing penetration testing against the agency authorized systems. The results of these tests have been extremely beneficial to TSA, identifying security deficiencies for remediation before an adversary could potentially exploit them. The culmination of all Mr. Daly’s efforts has had a positive and significant impact on TSA’s overarching security posture and the prevention serious harm to the TSA Enterprise and the core mission objectives of TSA to support the traveling public. The Office of Information Technology has been faced with a major challenge with its DEVSECOPS activities; routinely facing self-imposed stumbling blocks associated with the lack of established processes and coordination between the multiple teams within DEVSECOPS. This resulted in a backlog of applications and severely impacted the agile methodology for software development as required by the Chief Information Officer. Mr. Daly took up the challenge of addressing this critical mission area to untangle and promote a more coordinated approach to developing and authorizing applications in support of program offices across TSA. He first initiated an integrated project team to address each of the groups specific activities, processes, and objectives. One of his major goals was to align the Risk Management Framework (RMF) with the principles of an agile methodology, as RMF is a mandatory requirement for the Information Assurance Division under the Federal Information Security Management Act. Mr. Daly’s leadership was a key factor in bringing together key stakeholders to develop an end to end process which included the equities of all stakeholders. This new process was approved by the TSA Chief Information Security Officer. However, it would require some additional actions to add the “Speed to Delivery” as subsequently identified by TSA’s new CIO. Once again, Mr. Daly was quick to accept the challenge of improving speed in which applications are delivered to the production environment. He leveraged multiple teams to develop a 30-60-90-Day plan to ensure the development activities no longer faces a minimum nine-month duration period from “development to production” delivery timeframe. The teams analyzed current practices, processes, and mandatory security policies and federal guidance to streamline the Risk Management Framework activities. Through Mr. Daly’s keen understanding of both the application development requirements and the RMF requirements, he was able to lead the team towards the development of a new plan that satisfies the Chief Information Officer’s requirement to deliver applications at an expedited pace to better support program offices across TSA. The results of his leadership culminated into receiving executive approval.
