International Security Foundation

The ISF Board of Directors started discussing the lack of diversity in 2021 and created an ISF board Diversity Committee. During the ISF’s Strategic Plan board discussion in 2022, DEI became one of the priority focuses with the overarching theme to “Promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) for the Benefit of the Security Profession.” We set specific internal goals for our organization to meet by 2025 and brainstormed about DEI promotion through education and grantmaking.

The ISF Board and staff also worked with an outside DEI Advisor, Dr. Ron Brown, on DEI training, which will  continue annually.

While many organizations are addressing the challenges of DEI in the security profession, the ISF believes that to make any measurable change requires a combined, coordinated effort by many organizations. By bringing the initial group of five organizations together, we hope to collaborate to start building programs, awareness and educational opportunities for underrepresented people in the security profession.

Recognizing that the  ISF had the resources to do so, we hosted the first joint DEI Summit in April 2023 with five participating organizations:

• ASIS International
• The International Security Foundation (ISF), host
• The International Security Management Association (ISMA)
• Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC)
• Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC)

The ISF Board also dedicated additional resources to this initiative by funding a new position, Director of Programs, in spring 2023 to spearhead the collaborative work of the five organizations, which have formed the Joint DEI Task Force.

The Joint DEI Task Force is a group of five partner organizations joining together to move forward DEI initiatives. The inaugural Task Force is:

• ASIS: Peter O’Neil
• DSAC: Colin Daugherty
• ISF: Buffy Payne, ISF Board member
• ISMA: Arlin Pedrick
• OSAC: Christina Johnson

The security profession faces significant challenges in creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce, at all levels. In its recent survey, SMR Group, a security industry placement firm, learned that 94% of its candidates for security, risk and resiliency positions globally were men, with 70% coming from a former government background, typically, military, police or intelligence.

For underrepresented groups, there have been advancements, but critical gaps remain. For example, in cybersecurity, only 11% of the global cybersecurity workforce are female—a significant issue for an industry facing 1.8 million-plus unfulfilled jobs (Cybercrime Magazine).

The security profession’s lack of diversity in gender, race and sexual orientation also affects organizations’ ability to create the best crisis response, which benefits from  different perspectives and experiences. When our teams have diversity, equity and inclusion at their core, we are better able to plan and respond to our communities in crisis. In fact, diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time and more efficiently—twice as fast and in half the time, according to Cloverpop—and deliver 60% better results.

Creating initiatives that address the security profession’s DEI challenges will create a more robust pipeline for those entering the profession and provide more opportunities across all levels. This is one of the priorities identified at the DEI Summit.

The ISF’s mission is to “Promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) for the Benefit of the Security Profession” as stated in our Strategic Plan.

The ISF DEI Initiatives include organizing and funding the DEI Summit and the initiatives that develop from the work of the Joint DEI Task Force.

The ISF is working with our grantees to educate about the importance of DEI in their staff and leadership and  balanced representation in the programs that we fund through our grants programs.

The ISF DEI initiatives are funded through restricted donations to the ISF and unrestricted ISF Board designated funds.

Carly Coaty, Director of Programs
[email protected]
Phone: 832-543-1442 x105