Cruz, L. A. (2015). Assessment tool on stakeholders' orientation on security (Unpublished master's thesis). Public Management Development Program, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Public Management Development Program Middle Managers Class Batch 7 Thesis (MMC)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

The Re-entry Project (ReP) entitled, "Assessment Tool on Stakeholders' Orientation on Security," was implemented for a period of three months purposely to evaluate the status of the advocacy program for the Executive Order (EO) No. 608, being one of the principal mandates of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) as the overall government coordinator on security and intelligence matters. The NICA Director General approved the conduct of an assessment to determine the major causes and identify possible interventions to improve the stakeholders' poor compliance in establishing their respective Security Clearance Systems (SCS), as required by the EO 608. The stakeholders are comprised of government departments/agencies/offices which are mandated to ensure that all their officials and personnel-authorized to handle classified information-are qualified after subjecting them to a security clearance procedure by their respective Security Officers. The ReP Team composed of five NICA personnel conducted various activities, particularly the application of assessment tools such as survey and interview among the personnel and officials of the stakeholders that received NICA's advocacy and training on EO 608. A survey was conducted on 71 respondents from among the 79 participants of the security orientation seminars to gauge their appreciation of the seminar and training requirements. Interviews were also conducted with selected Security Officers, Administrative Officers and Security Staff of the different government agencies to gather their issues and recommendations regarding their compliance on EO 608. The data collected from the surveys showed that overall, the Agency was able to conduct seminars (which were rated very satisfactory) on EO 608 and its IRR, Introduction to Security, Document/Information Security, and Personnel Security. Consequently, the three- to five-hour seminar/workshop did not tackle Cyber Security-a topic requested by most of the participants-due to time constraints. The stakeholders and particularly the Security Officers cited the main reasons why they were unable to comply with the EO 608. As part of the ReP deliverables, significant findings were evaluated which led to the following recommendations: For the Agency's external stakeholders: 1. Develop a training package for the Security Officers/staff/personnel to establish their SCS; 2. Organize the Security Officers into cluster networks that will serves as support groups in their respective efforts to comply with the EO 608; 3. Assist through capacity building in the crafting of their security policies or security manual/handbook to sustain the SCS; 4. Assist in the designing of a monitoring and evaluation system for the SCS that will aid in providing the element of check-and-balance in the program; and 5. Create a process feedback mechanism as a means to attain efficiency and effectiveness in the security clearance procedures. For the Agency's internal stakeholders: 1. Prioritize the advocacy program and align it with the core functions; 2. Reorganize the personnel and offices/units engaged in the EO 608 advocacy program to ensure its sustainability and not compete with other functions/taskings as well as resources involved; 3. Collaborate with the NICA training office for inter-agency training sessions for both Security Officers/Staff and Liaison Officers, particularly those serving as instructors and facilitators in security seminars; 4. Enhance instructional materials and organize an info kit on the EO 608 by updating its contents, simplifying the forms/templates and giving focus on current cyber security issues affecting government data and ensure its proper disclosure; 5. Manage SO cluster networks to encourage collaboration and information-sharing on security and intelligence concerns; and 6. Conduct an agency summit in 2016 to introduce the assessment tool and its application in the advocacy program and explore possible policy intervention measures and inter-agency collaboration to further enhance compliance to the EO 608. The sustainability of the ReP in the next phase-by providing the essential training programs for the external and internal stakeholders of the Agency-will determine the success rate of the project in the next three to six years of implementing the recommended actions. In the post-ReP phase, the data obtained by using the Assessment Tool in the Agency's national and regional offices is expected to continuously provide the management with vital information to fine-tune and improve as overall government coordinator of the advocacy. Similarly, the stakeholders' commitment to undertake the recommended measures to improve their compliance to the EO 608 will contribute towards the attainment of a national security clearance system in the whole bureaucracy. Thus, this will ensure the integrity and preservation of classified matters against those seeking to obtain them for purposes that are inimical to the national security.