Infusing new technical talent into OCIO at PEO EIS

PEO EIS’ Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) completed its first-ever paid cyber internship, an 11-week program initiated through the DOD College Acquisition Internship Program, which provides college students with real-world defense acquisition workforce experience. Virginia Tech student Julia Krein wrapped up her OCIO internship on Aug. 16.

The first-of-its-kind internship for PEO EIS introduced Krein to information technology (IT) and cybersecurity in the federal government and U.S. military. As a college student studying business IT with a focus on cybersecurity management and analytics, Krein gained unique insights into the field while checking off some capstone-related projects for her bachelor’s degree.

“This internship provided me not only with cybersecurity knowledge and skills, but interpersonal skills and experience working in an office environment,” Krein said. “I was also able to use DOD resources, take a Power BI course and start studying for my CompTIA Security+ certification.” She added that she is now proficient in Power BI and working toward obtaining cyber certifications, all of which are critical for a career in cybersecurity. 

A member of Virginia Tech’s Collegiate Women in Business who serves as the marketing coordinator for the university’s Transfer Peer Mentor Program, Krein applied for the PEO EIS OCIO internship online and was shortly thereafter contacted for an interview with Michael Chappell, PEO EIS’ chief information officer, and John Howell, chief of staff. The application and interview process consisted of questions regarding her technical experience and previous IT and cybersecurity courses. After the interview, Krein was screened by the Personnel Security Investigation Center of Excellence for a security clearance, which was granted — offering insight into what a real-world DOD career would look like.

Asked why she wanted to apply and join the OCIO as an intern, Krein said, “PEO EIS was a great fit for the experience I was looking for and is focused on cybersecurity management, which is part of my degree.” 

The internship began June 6, and Krein spent Mondays in the office at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, while working remotely for the rest of the week. As part of the cyber team, she joined the thrice weekly team meetings and was assigned tasks from the queue, attended meetings with information system security managers (ISSM), tracked changes made to system profiles and reviewed various system artifacts and their compliance with security controls, among other assignments. 

Ali Mohammed, PEO EIS’ chief information security officer and Krein’s supervisor during the internship, spoke to some of Krein’s key contributions. Mohammed said Krein “successfully performed the cybersecurity-related actions in support of the Army’s Risk Management Framework (RMF),” noting that this task required extensive security and compliance review of systems and applications within their environment. Krein helped build the review program for the RMF implementation, along with financial management controls, which map back to core cybersecurity requirements. Later, she briefed PEO EIS headquarters on the RMF program during a cyber all-hands meeting on July 15. 

For Krein, one of her proudest accomplishments during the internship was creating a checklist around critical security controls, covering assessment procedures, key definitions and whether the control was a financial audit critical or risk management critical control. This checklist allows for ISSM to ensure compliance with controls and provides an auditing guide for policies and procedures.

Of her experience as an OCIO intern, Krein said, “It was a great introduction into the world of cybersecurity management and IT in general. Overall, it was great experience, and I really enjoyed working at PEO EIS.”

Mohammed praised Krein for her contributions to the cyber team during the internship. “Ms. Krein was a tremendous asset to the PEO EIS Cybersecurity Directorate throughout the summer,” said Mohammed. “She was instrumental in part of our rebuilding process as we shifted our work from compliance toward operations. She meshed well with the team and was awesome to work with. I believe her best is yet to come.”

In the fall, Krein returns to Virginia Tech’s campus as a senior. After graduating, she hopes to break into the cybersecurity field, particularly cyber forensics. Now, equipped with real-life experience to go along with her forthcoming degree, she is one step closer to immersing herself in her envisioned future.