Additional Career Highlights:

• Former Director, National Background Investigations Bureau

• Former Vice President, Corporate Security, Northrop Grumman Corporation

• Former Director of Security, Central Intelligence Agency

• Former Assistant Director, FBI

Charles S. Phalen is Principal of CS Phalen & Associates, LLC, and a senior security executive with over five decades of experience to include leading security programs across four federal agencies and a major defense company during periods of unprecedented growth and challenge. His expertise spans the full range of security operations, national and international crises, government-industry partnerships, business process reengineering, organizational development, and continuity of operations.

Mr. Phalen served as the first Acting Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) from July 2019 through March 2020, successfully merging OPM's background investigation program with DoD's Defense Security Service into a unified agency of approximately 12,000 personnel. Prior to that, he served as Director of the National Background Investigations Bureau (2016–2019), where he led government-wide personnel vetting for more than 100 federal agencies, significantly reduced the security clearance backlog, and modernized the investigations process. He also served as Vice President of Corporate Security at Northrop Grumman Corporation (2011–2016).

His 30-year federal career included senior roles as Director of Security at the Central Intelligence Agency, Assistant Director of the Security Division at the FBI, and security leadership positions at the National Reconnaissance Office.

Mr. Phalen holds a bachelor's degree in Law Enforcement and Criminology from the University of Maryland and remains active in external security organizations and forums.