OREANDA-NEWS. General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) announced that four of its facilities – located in Chesapeake, Va.; Oakton, Va.; Philadelphia; and Scottsdale, Ariz. – were awarded the James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Award. The Cogswell award is the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Defense Security Service (DSS), a federal security agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. Of the more than 13,300 cleared companies, less than 1 percent are annually selected to receive this award.

"General Dynamics is proud to be among the select few companies to receive the Cogswell award," said

Daniel Johnson, executive vice president of General Dynamics Information Systems and Technology. "This honor underscores our commitment to providing the highest level of security at our facilities and ensuring that classified information is protected."

General Dynamics' facilities were chosen for their industrial security excellence, which includes establishing and maintaining a security program that goes well beyond the minimum National Industrial Security Program requirements and providing leadership to other cleared facilities to set high standards for security. To receive consideration for the Cogswell award, a facility must be nominated by their assigned industrial security representative, have two consecutive superior industrial security review ratings and show a sustained degree of excellence and innovation in their overall security program management, implementation and oversight. Once nominated, the facilities go through a vigorous national vetting process that includes external vetting and a national team review.

General Dynamics'Chesapeake facility provides professional and technical services for the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, U.S. Coast Guard and other government agencies. Among the capabilities at the site are fleet support, logistics, ship repair, modernization and conversion, systems engineering and system integration. As a major prime contractor, the company's security operations include enforcing compliance with all requirements, as well as training and mentoring subcontractors, teammates and other contractors conducting similar work in security processes and procedures, and managing General Dynamics' own policies. General Dynamics'Chesapeake facility's security team includes Facility Security Officer (FSO)

Sal Gulisano, Assistant FSO Kelley Mullenniex and Onsite Operations Vice President

Tom Ternes.

General Dynamics'Oakton facility achieved a sustained record of superior performance while supporting the Department of Defense and numerous intelligence community and federal government agencies. Also included in this site's award are two supporting facilities in Chantilly, Va., and Fairfax, Va.  The security team includes FSO Laurie-Lee Mueller, Information Systems Security Officer

Patrick Callahan, and Onsite Program Managers

Linda Swasy and

Laura Comes.

The Philadelphia site supports the Naval Ship Systems Engineering Station (NAVSESS), providing software development, systems engineering and information technology professional services for the U.S.  Navy's hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) shipboard systems.  The Philadelphia team includes FSO Jennifer Rayca and Onsite Director of Operations

Frank Pasquine.

The General Dynamics facility in Scottsdale, which also was a recipient of a Cogswell award in 2011, supports NASA, the U.S. Army and other government customers with engineering, technical and program management for programs such as the Space Network Ground System Sustainment and Prophet Enhanced. The site also hosts the manufacturing areas for the AN/PRC-155 two-channel Manpack radio and other communications and networking equipment.  The security team includes Senior Security Manager and FSO Lori Slicker-Bobby, Counterintelligence Manager

Tiffany Holt, Senior Security Manager

Joseph Cotela, Information Systems Security Manager

Jesse Roberts and Material Control Manager

Monica Peters.