Associate Magazine-Jan/Mar 2021

Cory McGookin ACADEMY UPDATE

Continued from "Executive Health, on page 25

F B I N A A . O R G | J A N / M A R 2 0 2 1

ONE IN CUSTODY So, your job pursuit is over, and you have landed a job! Great but now what? The corporate world is vastly different than government work. You will be evaluated every day in the corpo- rate world. Most corporations do not come with union protection or job security. You produce or you are gone. But that should not scare you. You have faced much harder challenges and your skills for this environment are exceptional. I always chuckle inside when people ask how I went from working as a police officer to Microsoft. They often assume that I am working as a security guard because that is all they know from the media. We wear uniforms and enforce rules. We all know that a law enforcement professional is much more than that. We are expert negotiators, backed with formal training in many cases, who can talk people down from crisis. We are experts in sales when we convince suspects to sell us narcotics while working undercover. We are masters of organizational skills while we set up perimeters, station resources, call in air units and K-9, all while driving a car with emergency equipment blaring and two radios chirping out information in a dynamic situation. And we do all of this in high pressure and high stress environments. Trust me when I tell you, be confident. At the same time, you need to bring humility to the table. The people you are working with are well educated and are nobody’s fools. They have skills that we do not, and you will need their help as you navigate the corporate waters. The journey in this next chapter may not be easy but it will be well worth it. DISCLAIMER: The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily state or reflect those of Microsoft

T here are many small details with the NA that we are review- ing, discussing, deciding etc. The thing that is most impor- tant to all of us, however, is the question of when we will return. I don’t have a clear answer on that, but I want to be transparent with what has transpired and where we are currently. We put a lot of planning into conducting an off-site session in Janu- ary. Everything was in place and approved right up to the last signature. DOJ/AG decided not to fund the proposal at the last minute. Rather than plan for an unlikely Spring session only to cancel again, we decided to be more realistic and to hold off for the time being. The ability and timing to return to Quantico and bring back a session is dependent on many factors out of our control. We rely on the medical experts who are tracking the virus, the variants, and the vaccine. We are progressing toward inoculating all the staff at the facility. We hopeful that prospec- tive students are also being vaccinated as first responders. We are pursuing all the actions we can take to put ourselves in the best position to bring back the National Academy, but we will just have to wait and see how the world changes. I have proposed a couple restart date options to executive management. The optimistic start date is mid-June. This would allow a summer session to complete, a two-week break, and a fall session to start in mid-September which makes the fall graduation before Thanksgiving break. The less optimistic option would be either that mid-September start with a graduation be- fore Thanksgiving or a more traditional early October start date with a session that extends past Thanksgiving and into Decem- ber. I can’t predict when we will know if we start in June or will have to continue waiting. It is the question everyone is asking but all I can do is provide all the information we have and ask for your patience and understanding. Thank you for your support and your dedication to our chosen profession. We miss you all.

About the Author: John Manning is the leader of world- wide Public Safety and National Security programs initiatives for Microsoft Consulting Services, with responsibility over solution offerings that serve the public safety & justice communities. He has 25 years of experience as a municipal law enforcement official in the United States. In this role, John is responsible for leveraging the product-specific and integrated solu- tions into offerings for Public Safety & National Secu- rity. John is responsible for architecting, orchestration and developing industry offerings that provide positive and productive outcomes of mission requirements. He

is passionate about the safety and security of citizens in the global community, as well as working with customers around the world to achieve their mission goals using Microsoft’s technology.

Prior to coming to Microsoft Consulting Services, John worked in the development of the Microsoft Virtual Security Operations Center for Microsoft Global Security.

John’s law enforcement experience started in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department where he was a patrol officer and detective. John changed departments when he moved to Washington State and started working as a police officer for the Bellevue Police Department. John spent the next 20 years there and held assignments including Narcotic Investigation as a DEA Task Force Agent, Hos- tage Negotiator, K-9, and SWAT operator (both as a Team Leader and Commander.) John held every rank up to Major and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. John can be reached at John.Manning@microsoft.com

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