Impeccably dressed, charismatically polite and armed with an urgent message, Shelby Pierson, the U.S. Election Threats Executive in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), strode briskly into the studio at WTOP and got straight to the point. “At this juncture, we do not have any intelligence information to suggest that adversaries have sought to compromise voting tallies or change voting numbers,” Pierson said. But she hastily pointed out, that doesn’t mean they won’t try. Since her appointment to the position in July of 2019, Pierson has crisscrossed the country hammering home the need to stay ahead of the threat actors.

In the summer of 2019, Shelby Pierson was appointed the Intelligence Community’s first Election Threats Executive (ETE) to serve as the DNI’s principal adviser on all election security-related matters. Pierson coordinates and integrates all election security activities, initiatives, and programs across the IC and synchronizes intelligence efforts in support of the broader U.S. government.

While pursuing a Master’s degree at American University, Andrew Hallman took a class taught by a professor on sabbatical from the CIA. As he learned of the pivotal role intelligence plays in policy and security, Hallman wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to know more. Three years after earning his degree and many background checks later, he followed that desire into a job at the CIA.

After a closed-door hearing on Jan. 22, the leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence praised efforts by government to get its backlog of active security clearance adjudications under control, but want to see the system support more diversity among intelligence community recruits.

Agencies in the Intelligence community are scoring high on the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. One of the top ranked agencies this year was the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The ODNI workers reported good feedback on mission and enjoy their positions much more than years prior. Sherry Van Sloun, Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Human Capital, says that there are a few key factors that determined their placement in the rankings.