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FLETA Board Grants Academy and Program Reaccreditation to the Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service

For Immediate Release
Mark Haucke, Ph.D.; Laureen Stephens-Rice; Tom Haycraft; Kevin Bauer, Director, DSS OTPS; Jim Sutton; Tim Parkman

The Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation (FLETA) Board ispleased to announce it granted reaccreditation status to the U.S.Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service’s Academy, the BasicSpecial Agent Course, and the Instructor Development Course at theMarch 22, 2012 meeting in Hilton Head, South Carolina. The Departmentof State was one of the first departments to achieve FLETAaccreditation in 2005. The Diplomatic Security Service’s Office ofTraining and Performance Standards is responsible for oversight of theAcademy and both programs. Kevin Bauer, Director of the Office ofTraining and Performance Standards accepted the certificates ofaccreditation, “We are committed to the FLETA process, and it hasserved us well in our mission”.

The Office of Training and Performance Standard’s mission is totrain and sustain a workforce capable of effectively addressing andovercoming the law enforcement and security challenges required tosupport U.S. Foreign Policy in the global threat environment now andinto the future. The Office provides basic and in-service lawenforcement, technical security, counter-terrorism, technical security,information assurance, diplomatic courier, and other professionaltraining to Diplomatic Security agents and security engineeringpersonnel being assigned throughout the world.  The Office alsoprovides a wide variety of specialized security training programs andcountry specific training/briefings to State Department personnel andtheir families, and for personnel from more than 43 other governmentagencies who are assigned overseas.

The Basic Special Agent Course provides newly appointed SpecialAgent candidates the skills necessary to function as Federal LawEnforcement Officers within the State Department’s Bureau of DiplomaticSecurity.  This 25-week entry-level training program preparesSpecial Agent candidates for all aspects of domestic duty with theDepartment of State.

The Instructor Development Course provides participants with basictraining in instructional techniques and selected instructionaldesign/development topics. Participants learn presentation techniquesand the policies and procedures that govern instructing for the officeof Training and Performance Support.

To achieve accreditation, agencies submit to an independent reviewof their academy and/or program to ensure compliance with the FLETAStandards and Procedures in the areas of: Program Administration,Training Staff, Training Development, and Training Delivery, with anadditional 20 standards for Academies. Accreditation is a cyclicalprocess occurring every three years. Each year, agencies must submitannual reports in preparation for reaccreditation, which is a new andindependent review of the academy/program.