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INSCOM Adding Counterintelligence and Counterterrorism Support

The Army’s 31-year old intelligence command secures contractor insider threat resources, among other capabilities.

Army Sgt. K.C. Pless applies camouflage paint before a multinational weapons training session with Danish troops in Estonia on March 10 in support of support Operation Atlantic Resolve. As the Army operates in an ever-changing world, the service’s military intelligence needs to provide a counter to the evolving threats. Army photo by Spc. Hubert D. Delany III

Like many entities, the U.S. Army’s Intelligence and Security Command is facing an ever-evolving threat environment as far as counterterrorism and counterintelligence, says Rick Wagner, president of ManTech’s Mission, Cyber and Intelligence Solutions group. ManTech recently won a contract award to support the command.

The U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, recently tapped Herndon, Virginia-based ManTech International Corporation to provide counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism support to the command and the command’s 902nd Military Intelligence Group at Fort Meade, Maryland. The $133 million award is for one year, with contract options that could extend the work through 2020.

Under the command of Maj. Gen. Christopher Ballard, USA, INSCOM provides finished intelligence products tailored to the Army’s needs. INSCOM runs the service’s operational intelligence and security forces and conducts and coordinates the intelligence and security needs across multiple disciplines. In addition, INSCOM provides linguistic support, advanced level training, and logistics, acquisition, communications and other specialized support related to intelligence to the service, joint DOD concerns, coalition commands and the U.S. intelligence community.

“INSCOM, like many government partners, faces an ever-evolving threat environment as far as counterterrorism and counterintelligence,” Rick Wagner, president of ManTech’s Mission, Cyber and Intelligence Solutions group, told SIGNAL. “They have unique requirements, in that the threat is immediate to U.S. forces, and they need access to the best intelligence capabilities to succeed in protecting U.S. forces.”

The company will provide personnel to support intelligence, analytics, insider threat, forensics and technology protection, along with related computer science services.

This is ManTech’s first major contract with INSCOM. Other related contracts that ManTech has had with entities in the intelligence field are classified, so Wagner was not able to go into details about the company’s additional intelligence and security experience. Wagner does point to the company’s insider threat capabilities and cyber forensics, in particular, as being important aspects of what the 902nd and INSCOM needed. “This is a really important contract for us,” Wagner admitted. “We worked very hard to bring the Army’s INSCOM in as one of our customers. We have some really strong insider threat and forensic capabilities that put us in a great position to support the mission of the 902nd Military Intelligence Group and INSCOM.”

To support the military intelligence agency’s central mission of counterintelligence and counterterrorism, the company also made some strategic moves, which, according to Wagner, understand the “nuances of the mission,” including insider threat countermeasures. In June of 2015, the company purchased Knowledge Consulting Group, a cybersecurity services firm, which expanded ManTech’s cybersecurity and intelligence group, including its insider threat portfolio. That acquisition helped put ManTech atop Bloomberg Government’s 2016 top insider-threat contractor list, which is based on the amount of contract obligations.

Additionally, the company has provided counterintelligence and intelligence analysis capabilities for federal, state and local governments, Wagner said. “We often work in a fusion environment where we are helping customers to cross lanes with multiple parts of the mission and integration with law enforcement, local entities, intelligence and DOD.”

As far as the emerging technologies needed to support the command’s mission, Wagner said that INSCOM and the 902nd use a very specific mix of technologies to execute their mission. ManTech will help identify possible technologies and refashion them as needed. Innovation over time is also built into the process. Wagner shared that ManTech CEO Kevin Phillips recently visited Silicon Valley to speak with technology thought leaders; the company also works with the Defense Innovation Unit Experiment (DIUX), which accelerates commercial technologies for national defense.

Naturally, INSCOM selects what it will adopt, and then “we’ll go out and adapt those technologies that are best suited for their mission and requirements,” Wagner specified. The contractor’s work includes critical analysis of the Army Intelligence 2020 and Beyond modernization effort, as well as INSCOM’s priority to enhance theater military intelligence capabilities.

“The 902nd has huge potential offerings coming up from the Army acquisition process and services contracts, such as the one with ManTech, which continually evolve to present the customer with possibilities,” Wagner stated. “And then its up to INSCOM to make the choices between the state of the possible, non-development items and various opportunities to bring the Army acquisition process to bear on their needs.”

In addition to technology, ManTech will provide some logistics, linguistics and training support. “Our primary role is counterintelligence, but any time you are working with the military there is a large logistics component to that,” Wagner said. As for linguistics, “we do have linguists on the contract who support the overall efforts,” he said. “And training is inherent in anything we do.”