NCMS Northern Lights Chapter

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NCMS was founded in 1964 by a group of government and industry security classification managers and administrators who recognized the importance of establishing a society, national in scope, to advance the practice of Classification Management as a profession.

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Today, the Society has over 2,000 members in the United States and overseas including representatives from NATO countries. Within the U.S., members come from the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Department of State, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Agency, General Accounting Office--virtually every Federal agency that deals with classification--and from the civilian contractors who work with these agencies. As the Society has grown over the years, its focus has also expanded. NCMS now provides professional development for its members in the field of classification management, information security, personnel security, computer security, operations security (OPSEC), facility security, and technology security.

In 1988 plans began to create a National Classification Management Society (NCMS) Chapter in the Twin Cities area. The original name our chapter was “Minneapolis/St. Paul Chapter," which eventually changed to Northern Lights Chapter.

In May 24, 1989, the first organizational meeting of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Chapter of NCMS was held. Twenty-eight NCMS members attended. The elected officers were as follows:

In 1999 our chapter received the "Small Chapter of the Year" award, which was the same year that we hosted the NCMS National Seminar.

Northern Lights Chapter membership is currently at 65 security professionals. Most of our meetings, which are held quarterly, are hosted by members in cleared facilities around the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Our current membership comes from and includes the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and Colorado. The Chapter also boasts two ISP's – Susan Crimmins, United Defense, and Larry Mustonen, General Dynamics.

It takes a creative team of board members to come up with interesting topics for meetings in order to draw our busy members to meetings and keep the Chapter healthy. Our meetings involve topics of interest that are presented by active members. Occasionally, we will invite individuals such as the security officer from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, who spoke to us on airport security. Some of our most recent meeting topics have included Identity Theft, Foreign Travel, Disaster Recover and Business Continuity Planning, Statistics and Metrics, Computer Security, Personal Security, Education and Training.

This year was especially interesting because the majority of our scheduled meetings involved not only the business meeting, but a training session on subjects such as JPAS and e-QIP. At these meetings, we invited members and non-members in the hopes that we could increase our membership. We have an annual holiday membership appreciation meeting each year that provides members with a complimentary lunch along with guest speaker or other type of activity or educational presentation.

The Northern Lights Chapter has been a strong supporter of the NCMS National Training Seminar. Many of our members enjoy networking with other chapter members besides using it as an opportunity to see each other once again. As a matter of fact, this past year, Kim Payne, Chair of the National Seminar Planning Committee, is also a member of the Northern Lights Chapter, former NCMS National Board member, and former Chair of the Northern Lights Chapter. In addition, Kim Payne received the prestigious Society Award for her exemplary contribution to NCMS.

Our chapter has participated in and received numerous awards throughout the years in the National Seminar Poster and Media contests. In 2004, we earned third place in the membership drive contest and have also received several Chapter of the Year Awards. We also participated in the donation of funds to provide telephone cards to our military troops.