You may already know that I run two podcasts: DoDSecure Y Training of Races and Obstacle Courses. I recently interviewed Ray D*I*C*E Man Semko on my DoDSecure podcast. I hope you can catch up on the podcast as it covers so many topics from security clearances to protecting classified information.
What impressed me the most was his drive and focus that led to his brand of D*I*C*E, which stands for Defensive Information Countering Everything. This is what he calls the “anchor point” and a lot is built around it. He wanted a way for people to focus on what’s important in relation to national security. DICE provides more than just a sticker or slogan, it is a movement that has created more reporting opportunities and has, in fact, led to the capture of a spy.
The DICE concept took a while to develop and catch on. Ray was initially scheduled to give a security awareness briefing and realized he had to have an anchor or something to build focus. At the time, the US Army had a motto going at the time and many may remember Subversion and Directed Espionage Against the Army or SAEDA. This was a difficult acronym for many to remember. I remember the difficulty I had to apply it as a soldier in the cold war and when they asked me I ended up answering. “Syrup And Eggs Can’t Agree (SAEDA)”.
Now Ray had the opportunity to develop something original and he jumped at the chance after being commissioned by his employer to do so. “So this is my chance to be original, to think outside the box. And I’m thinking, okay, what am I going to do and this is where the anchor entered my mind,” he says. “If you’re prepared for that moment, you don’t know what that moment is going to be. You don’t know what it’s going to entail, but if you’re as prepared as you can be by knowing your job and having confidence in yourself to do your job, all aspects of it, what whatever they call you to do,” he continued.
It took him 14 years to get to that point. She now she had the anchor point or something to remember. One result of that particular anchor point, D*I*C*E, is that a DIA employee felt he needed to report his concerns about Ana Montes, a senior Cuban analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency. It turned out to be a long-term, high-level penetration of the US intelligence community by the Cuban intelligence service.
“…it’s actually written in the book (sic. True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba’s Master Spy). I mean, there have been several people who have come forward because the people who listen to my reports and that stays with them. They see something strange here, suspicious. They reported it to the security people and the security people did the right thing and investigated in all aspects.”
Now, when people see dice in a game, hanging from a rearview mirror, or at a flea market in Greece, they think of Ray D*I*C*E Man Semko, and for good reason; he created the anchor point.
During the interview, I asked Ray one more question:
“Let me pull that thread a little bit because I think that’s a good point. We talked last week and you brought that up. ‘You know, Jeff, I’m not security, but I’m counterintelligence,’ and that was a good point because you know things that the security people don’t know and we all get our reports about Walker and Montas and all these other people. But how do you get up-to-date relevant information? Is it available to security managers?”
Well, that’s what we have for this week’s episode of DoDSecure. So join our podcast or read our next article where Ray answers the question, “what other resource is out there that security managers can tap into to deliver relevant and realistic training?”