Shannon Goode
Annapolis,MD
Summary
Forward-thinking, mission-driven Federal Personnel Security Leader (GS-0080-14 Eligible) offering over 20 years of authoritative, cross-functional expertise spanning national security adjudications, complex background investigations, internal affairs, and criminal justice program direction. Decisive, results-oriented leader with a proven record of success serving as Team Lead and Acting Branch Chief, directing large-scale agency modernizations, and guiding diverse, geographically dispersed team to exceed federal compliance and performance baselines. Recognized expert in navigating complex regulatory frameworks to establish multi-tier quality assurance models, author HSD Personnel Security Branch mission area-wide standard operating procedures (SOPs), secure AI integration and building high-performance, cross-regional training infrastructures.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
Work History
Personnel Security Specialist & Acting Team
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) | FPAC Business Center
Annapolis, Maryland
01.2017 - Current
- Strategic Program Direction & Team Leadership
- Branch Leadership: Serve as Team Lead with designated authority to act as Branch Chief, directing all operational phases of the Personnel Security program, establishing performance baselines, and optimizing daily workflows.
- Quality Assurance & 2nd Level Review: Serve as the authoritative second-level review signature (concur/non-concur) for complex suitability cases; evaluate Unsuitable Recommendations, Letters of Inquiry/Interrogatory (LOIs), Letters of Advisement (LOAs), Adjudicative Worksheets (AWS), and Employee and Labor Relations/Human Resources (ELR) Packages to enforce strict quality control over written federal products.
- Adverse Action Certification: Review and formally certify critical referrals for adverse security and suitability actions, ensuring all final determinations are legally defensible and fully supported by background investigations and rigorous adjudicative analysis.
- Program Evaluation: Research and apply a wide array of qualitative and quantitative analytical methods to evaluate employee/contractor identification programs, identify systemic bottlenecks, and continuously improve team effectiveness and productivity.
- Program Evaluation & Metrics: Research and apply a wide array of qualitative and quantitative analytical methods to evaluate employee/contractor identification programs, identify systemic bottlenecks, and continuously improve team effectiveness.
- Cross-Regional Collaboration: Established and moderated "Bridge to Balance," a dedicated MS Teams group that fostered collaboration among geographically dispersed Personnel Security Specialists, creating a secure forum to vet complex cases and align policy changes.
- Technical Training Programs: Designed and facilitated the "Suitability with Shannon" weekly training course, leveraging 20+ years of adjudication and investigative expertise to upskill personnel on "whole-person" concepts, documentation red flags, and professional federal writing for Letters of Inquiry (LOIs).
- Workforce Upskilling: Led Adjudicative Worksheet (AWS) training focused on structural standardization and the enforcement of mandatory pre-appointment mitigation, drastically reducing onboarding vulnerabilities.
- Performance Targets: Accelerated the Continuous Evaluation Vetting (CEV) Project pipeline by advising the Project Manager on milestone tracking and matrix updates; trained two specialists to enroll 100 employees, establishing the strategic framework to achieve a 600-employee branch goal.
- Strategic Program Direction & Security Systems Modernization
- DCSA Enterprise Migration: Directing the high-stakes modernization and active rollout of personnel vetting workflows from legacy architectures to the DCSA enterprise platform, systematically preparing the agency for the mandatory NBIS system decommissioning on September 30, 2026.
- Operational Risk Mitigation: Proactively identifying system limitations and engineering temporary operational workarounds during live data migrations; meticulously annotating technical gaps to author the agency's formal User Need Requests (UNR) list submission to DCSA to guarantee seamless business continuity.
- System Architecture Optimization: Driving the agency-wide transition to the Defense Information System for Security (DISS) portal by configuring Joint Verification System (JVS) user roles and restructuring task inboxes to streamline the review pipeline.
- Roster & Pipeline Administration: Administering the Security Management Office (SMO) roster and audit-tracking Personnel Vetting Questionnaire (PVQ/SF-85/85P/86) submission data to eliminate regulatory coverage gaps and fulfill 5-year reinvestigation timelines.
- Continuous Vetting Oversight: Managing business continuity during fast-paced federal transitions by actively monitoring Continuous Evaluation Vetting (CEV) rosters, due process appeals, and final determinations across CATS and DISS subsystems.
- Program Development, QA, & Technical Innovation
- Process Optimization: Engineered a 10-week NBIS Template Pilot that achieved a 0% eAPP applicant rejection rate by integrating targeted tips into initial notifications, accelerating investigation scheduling and conserving administrative resources.
- Quality Assurance Framework: Developed and deployed a comprehensive QA Framework featuring standardized checkpoints that unified final adjudication reviews and successfully eliminated redundant investigative practices.
- Risk Management Architecture: Introduced a data-driven Risk Assessment Framework utilizing trend analysis from closed investigations to prioritize oversight and target vulnerable areas needing protocol improvements.
- Systems Re-Engineering: Redesigned automated system notifications within ServiceNow (SNOW), reducing instructions text volume by two-thirds to deliver concise, user-friendly onboarding guidance to applicants.
- Policy Development, Operations, & Compliance
- Policy Authoring: Authored the Comprehensive PSB SOP Manual, establishing definitive, step-by-step operating procedures for all phases of federal applicant vetting, onboarding, and processing.
- USAccess System Cleanup: Led the USAccess System Cleanup Initiative by auditing Security Office Identifier (SOI) and Sub-Element Code (SON) IPAC codes across all mission areas, eliminating 300 duplicate and inactive codes to prevent systemic submission errors.
- Federal Records Compliance: Executed Federal Records Management Compliance by evaluating retention guidelines in accordance with NARA regulations; consulted with DCSA and agency SMEs and the Records Management liaisons to formulate a compliant disposal strategy for legacy pre-2020 hard-copy personnel files.
- Stakeholder Engagement & Customer Service
- Service Delivery Modernization: Delivered responsive, transparent customer service to agency stakeholders, consistently meeting strict Business Center workflows by routing and acknowledging inquiries within 48 hours.
- Cross-Functional Communication: Facilitated cross-functional collaboration by maintaining active communication loops with team members, leadership, and external partners regarding active case statuses and complex security issues.
- Strategic Advisory: Advised agency leadership on pre-employment adjudication trends, using past case insights to inform strategic, defensive personnel security decisions.
- Personnel Vetting & Case Adjudication
- High-Efficiency Adjudications: Executed cradle to grave personnel security adjudications and complex background investigations in strict compliance with federal privacy regulations, finalizing preliminary determinations within 14 days and full adjudications within 90 days.
- Information Safeguarding: Maintained a zero-breach record while continuously managing and safeguarding sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII) across all active case files.
- Error Rate Mitigation: Maintained a critical error rate well below the allowed threshold, limiting database, workflow, or documentation discrepancies to fewer than 3 occurrences per quarter.
- Onboarding Pipeline Management: Insured seamless federal onboarding pipelines by auditing and submitting Certificates of Investigation (COIs) to the Employee Care Center within strict 30-day compliance windows.
- Average hours per week 40
- Series 0080 Security Administration
- Current Federal Employee Grade13
Education
Bachelor of Science - Criminal Justice
University of Maryland Global Campus (Formerly University of Maryland University College)
12-2018
Skills
- Project Management
- Policy Development
- Risk Assessment/Risk Mitigation
- Quality Assurance
- Suitability Training Delivery
- Cross-Regional Collaboration
- Process Evaluation
- Effective Communication
- Stategic Problem Solving
- Team Leadership
Timeline
Personnel Security Specialist & Acting Team
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) | FPAC Business Center
01.2017 - Current
Bachelor of Science - Criminal Justice
University of Maryland Global Campus (Formerly University of Maryland University College)