L2 Stephen Vallis, L2 MARPAC /JTF(P) Physical and Personnel Security Officer

  • Security Awareness Week runs Feb 9–13, 2026, with the theme ‘Security starts with you,’ reminding Defence Team members that protecting information, materials, and facilities is a shared responsibility.
  • Members are encouraged to adopt a security mindset by staying proactive, learning workplace zone requirements, understanding classified materials, and knowing who to contact for guidance within their unit.
  • Members are also reminded to track and maintain their security clearance status, and to note that the new Personnel Security Processing System (PSPS) replaced WebSCPS in Nov 2025 for all clearance requests and updates.

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This year, Security Awareness Week is observed from Feb 9 to 13, with the 2026 theme being ‘Security starts with you.’ For those of us in the Defence Team, many of these changes impact our daily business: we clearly have many global rivals whose goals conflict with our own. These entities may include foreign nations and their intelligence services; foreign and transnational terrorist networks; and criminal elements. No matter your role in the Defence Team, you have access to information, materials, and facilities that will be of interest to all those entities.

Collectively and individually, we have a responsibility to protect these things.

Effective security requires everyone to develop a security mindset: a proactive, vigilant way of thinking that involves constantly looking for vulnerabilities and potential failures, often described as ’thinking like an attacker’ to anticipate how systems, data, or physical assets could be misused, broken, or compromised, and then taking steps to prevent that. Similarly, we need everyone to support a culture of security awareness, which is achieved when security considerations are included in all planning and day to day operations, and all Defence Team members adopt shared values in the way we think about and approach security.

So how can one adopt a security mindset? To start, know who your Unit Security Supervisor and Information Systems Security Officer are. These two roles are very different, but complimentary, and together cover almost every aspect of security within a unit (except for policing and force protection). These roles are also your immediate source of security information in the unit. You should know any related security policies or where to find this information. You should know the type of zone that you work in: defence establishments have Reception Zones, Operations Zones, Security Zones and sometimes High Security Zones, each of which have very specific access requirements. Additionally, understand what types of information and materials are classified, and how to protect these resources appropriately.

You should also know the status of your security clearance. All CAF members and DND employees are required to hold a valid security status or clearance as a condition of employment or service. These credentials have expiry dates, and you are responsible for maintaining them in the same way as a physical fitness test or annual dental appointment. Something new to note in 2026 is the Personnel Security Processing System (PSPS). This software is used to process security statuses and clearances, replacing the prior WebSCPS system from Nov 2025. All new requests and updates must be processed in PSPS.

Maintaining effective security is everyone’s duty, and it takes effort and discipline. My challenge to you is to do three things: verify your security clearance; learn and understand the physical security requirements of your workplace and the information and materials within it; and include security considerations as a subject line in every event or activity that you plan.