Stephanie Yanta has announced that she has joined PenFed Credit Union as a Senior Engineer, bringing decades of experience across federal law enforcement, military intelligence, and private-sector security and risk management into one of the nation’s largest credit unions.
Yanta previously worked at NEC NSS in September 2022 as the lead for Intelligence and also served as the lead for NEC NSS’s Strategic Alliances wherein she expertly aggregated partners and technologies to fill existing and emerging technology gaps for the U.S. government writ large, and specifically the Intelligence Community, FVEY partners and trusted allies. Stephanie developed and nurtured NSS’s partner relationships, along with the marshalling and amalgamating of resources necessary to achieve a high degree of customer satisfaction. Stephanie was part of NSS’s Countering Insider Threat Team and is a keen supporter of countering all forms of human trafficking and forced labor.
Stephanie has extensive experience within the Intelligence Community and government service having retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with ~25 years of service. While at the FBI, Stephanie held several leadership positions and worked a variety of violations including as a member of the Cold Case Homicide Squad, the Safe Streets Task Force, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), and Cyber Engagement Unit. Notably, Stephanie was an integral part of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) and served as a Certified FBI BAU “Profiler.” As a Profiler, Stephanie focused on providing behavioral-based support to matters of counterterrorism and other crimes involving acts or threats of targeted violence. Stephanie mastered working alongside other certified Profilers, Mental Health Professionals and case teams to both dissuade and disrupt potential offenders’ efforts to engage in violence.
Stephanie was regularly sought and more often specifically requested to provide BAU-related training to a myriad of consumers within law enforcement, the Justice Department and communities both in the U.S. and overseas. During her FBI tenure, Stephanie was the case agent of the largest drug seizure in the history of the D.C. area, and she was a member of the Hazardous Materials Response Team. Stephanie has extensive experience operating in overseas environments having deployed to the Middle East, Afghanistan (three times), Europe and Africa. Remarkably, Stephanie earned the highest award within the Department of Justice, the Attorney General’s Award, for her leadership during the May 2010 Times Square attempted bombing/terrorism event. Stephanie also serves as a member of the Editorial Board of GTSC’s Homeland Security Today.
As a true believer in teamwork, Stephanie was a co-founder of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Touchstone group – an FBI-led private sector outreach effort. She earned her Master’s Degree in 2012 from the Naval Postgraduate School having completed her Master’s Thesis on the Touchstone Project. Both a revolutionary and evolutionary endeavor, many of Touchstone’s engagement and information sharing principles are still being leveraged by the FBI. Stephanie is originally from Valparaiso, Indiana and earned Bachelors of Arts degrees in both History and Political Science from Indiana University. She was a member of the Indiana University ROTC program through which she earned her commission as a Military Intelligence (MI) officer in the Indiana Army National Guard. Stephanie achieved the rank of Captain (O-3). Amongst a variety of assignments as an Intelligence Officer (G-2/S-2), a highlight of Stephanie’s military service included her selection as the first (and first female) Company Commander (HHC) for the newly formed 638th MI Battalion in Indiana.