Building Trust, Technology, and Talent: The New Foundations of the Cleared Workforce

Presented by ClearanceJobs & Carahsoft

Recorded at ClearanceJobs Connect 2025, a cross-section of government, industry, and policy leaders painted a vivid picture of a national security community in transformation. From personnel vetting and workforce retention to artificial intelligence, transparency, and recruiting innovation, every conversation pointed to a single unifying theme: the trust economy—built on people, powered by data, and evolving through technology.

Trust as the Core of National Security

Few voices framed this more clearly than David Cattler, former Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). Cattler described his organization’s mission not just as compliance or background checks, but as “fundamentally about trust.” Security, he emphasized, “isn’t just about doing a compliance check—it’s about establishing and sustaining trust relationships with people who serve the national interest.”

He noted that DCSA is introducing new tools for continuous vetting, giving cleared professionals visibility into their own investigations—“almost like a pizza tracker” for background checks. But speed, he said, could never come at the expense of integrity. “We’re trying to move at the fastest responsible speed,” Cattler explained, “because if you’re fast but you don’t vet people properly, what have you done? You might have let the wrong people in.”

Even as DCSA deploys AI-assisted anomaly detection, Cattler warned that artificial intelligence must never replace human judgment in trust decisions. “We should not allow AI to take that fundamentally human decision about the trust question,” he said—a caution echoed by others across the event.

Transparency and the Challenge of Information

For Michael Thomas, Director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), that trust extends into how government manages classified and sensitive data. Speaking from his office’s vantage point at the National Archives, Thomas described ISOO as “the dividing line between what must be protected and what’s ready to be released.” Balancing national security with transparency, he said, “is a tightrope walk”—one that now depends heavily on technology.

In his latest annual report to the President, Thomas highlighted the growing role of automated tools to manage an overwhelming volume of digital information and to tackle long-standing issues like over-classification and poor data interoperability. Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), he explained, is becoming “a seamless framework” for protecting sensitive but unclassified material—a system that will “prove pivotal in the years to come.”

Thomas believes AI can serve as a “decision aid, not a decision maker.” With the right safeguards, he argued, automation can “drastically increase accuracy and efficiency” in information oversight while maintaining the human accountability that national security demands.

The Evolution of the Cleared Workforce

At the human level, the workforce itself is changing rapidly. Lindy Kyzer, Vice President of Content and Market Engagement at ClearanceJobs, described the current hiring climate as both “energizing and anxious.” With hiring freezes, budget uncertainty, and ongoing implementation of Trusted Workforce 2.0, Kyzer said collaboration between government, industry, and academia has never been more important.

Trusted Workforce 2.0, she noted, is “the biggest policy overhaul in the security clearance process since the 1950s.” Its implementation, spanning more than 120 agencies, is shifting clearance structures and streamlining tiers. ClearanceJobs, with nearly two thousand defense employers and close to two million registered candidates, serves as “the connective tissue” between these entities, sustaining engagement year-round through digital and in-person community building.

Christy Wilder, Chief Security Officer at Peraton, added that this modernization is redefining both recruitment and retention. She called attracting and retaining cleared talent “imperative to the mission” and praised the new framework for allowing faster adaptation to emerging threats and workforce needs. Continuous vetting, she said, replaces the “rinse and repeat” five-year cycle with real-time awareness.

Wilder also underscored AI’s potential to unify disparate data sets for better security decision-making. “It enables the human to make decisions more efficiently and effectively,” she said, while emphasizing that technology should empower—not replace—human analysts.

Technology, Innovation, and the Business of Security

While government leaders focused on policy, industry executives explored how private-sector innovation is amplifying these efforts. Art Zeile, CEO of DHI Group—parent company of ClearanceJobs—described 2025 as “the year to expand the mission.” DHI’s acquisition of Agile ATS, a purpose-built applicant tracking system for government contractors, and the introduction of premium candidate experiences reflect how the company is marrying trust with innovation.

Zeile also spotlighted DHI’s AI Council, which is integrating artificial intelligence into both the ClearanceJobs and Dice platforms. One example: an AI chatbot that helps candidates compare their skills to job postings and identify gaps—a feature he said “reinforces trust in the platform” by empowering applicants with transparency and insight.

Alex Schildt, President of ClearanceJobs, echoed that dual focus on technology and community. The platform’s new Cleared Policy Advisory Board, launched in early 2025, connects national security leaders with the talent marketplace to better translate policy into practice. Schildt sees data as “the gasoline for the engine of national security,” driving smarter hiring decisions and lifelong career growth within the cleared community.

Recruiting, Retention, and the Human Element

Beyond systems and policies, many speakers centered their remarks on people—both the recruiters finding them and the employees staying in the fight.

Tommy Weinert, founder of Mount Indie, reminded audiences that “recruiting is sales.” His firm’s success, he said, rests on empathy, transparency, and understanding the full “persona” of each cleared candidate. “You can’t push someone into a job that’s not a good fit,” he said. “We need long-term employees, not short-term closes.”

Peter Romness, VP of Partnerships at ISI, explained how automation is easing the administrative burden on small defense contractors. His company acts as an “outsourced assistant FSO,” applying automation and quality control to clearance management and IT compliance. The result, he said, is faster processing—“we regularly do facility clearances in 40 days instead of 120”—and peace of mind for small business leaders.

Finally, Victor Minella, former Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy for Intelligence and Security, turned to the national challenge of retention and reintegration. With hundreds of thousands of federal employees expected to reenter the workforce, he warned of a potential “brain drain” if government and industry fail to match these skilled professionals with meaningful opportunities. “We are all recruiters and retention specialists,” he said. “If we don’t champion this workforce, we risk losing them to other industries.”

A Shared Mission

Across the event, from policy directors to private-sector innovators, the message was remarkably consistent: national security depends on connection—between technology and people, between trust and transparency, and between agencies and the industry partners who enable their mission.

ClearanceJobs Connect 2025 showcased a community that understands its evolution isn’t just about filling positions or deploying software. It’s about ensuring that trust, technology, and talent advance together—securing not only the systems of government, but the people who power them.