SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – While counterintelligence, or CI, workers tend to reside in the shadows, it’s hard to stay under the radar when you’re one of the top analysts in the field.
Daniel Kesinger, an analyst in the U.S. Transportation Command’s Intelligence Directorate, has been named the Counterintelligence Analyst of the Year for 2012 by the Office of National Counterintelligence Executive, or NCIX.
As an analyst for USTRANSCOM, Kesinger works to enhance CI operations in support of the command.
“On a daily basis we identify and mitigate foreign intelligence threats to the command,” Kesinger said. “It’s very complex and involves a lot of collaboration with external agencies.”
Padraic Shannon is the chief of the Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Division, where Kesinger is one of eight analysts.
“During the evacuation following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami [in 2011], Mr. Kesinger coordinated a process with several agencies to screen thousands of individuals that were to be evacuated to U.S. installations in the Pacific and the continental U.S. using USTRANSCOM assets,” Shannon said. “Additionally, he sought to identify foreign intelligence threats to U.S. humanitarian and disaster relief operations in Japan.
“As the lead for USTRANSCOM's Foreign Vendor Vetting Program,” Shannon continued, “Mr. Kesinger coordinated with multiple Department of Defense entities to identify and share derogatory information on foreign commercial cargo carriers used by USTRANSCOM and other U.S. government agencies to provide logistical movement in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.”
Kesinger is humble about his accomplishments and the award. “I don’t think it’s so much a testament to my individual capabilities,” he said. “It’s a testament to the importance of CI in support of TRANSCOM.
“We’ve always had a CI mission here,” Kesinger continued. “It’s just we haven’t had trained CI personnel providing proactive CI support. I think that’s what I brought and what I exposed to the command. There is a lot of benefit to having trained CI personnel here at TRANSCOM.”
“In a lot of ways we operate in the shadows, our activities are shrouded,” Kesinger said. “And, as such, most don't know what we do, what role we play in the protection of USTRANSCOM.”
Before coming to USTRANSCOM, Kesinger spent eight years in the U.S. Army, in the intelligence field and five years in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations as a CI analyst.
“Mr. Kesinger has continuously reached out across the CI community to provide senior decision makers integrated, actionable intelligence to counter foreign intelligence threats and allow USTRANSCOM to execute its global requirements,” Shannon said. “His continued collaboration with other elements throughout the U.S. government has undoubtedly led to a heightened awareness of the overall threat to the Department of Defense's worldwide intermodal transportation operations.”
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