Fed Gov Today
Oct 23, 2025
Christy Wilder participated in an interview with Fed Gov Today on the topic of “Building Trust, Technology, and Talent.”
For Christy Wilder, Chief Security Officer at Peraton, the national security workforce is facing both risk and opportunity. “Retaining talent and attracting new professionals into the cleared pool is critical,” she said at ClearanceJobs Connect 2025.
Wilder has spent her career across the intelligence community, the Department of Defense, and civilian agencies. That breadth gives her perspective on what she calls “the cultural nuances of clearance.” Each agency, she said, interprets suitability and security differently—but they all depend on collaboration.
Much of that collaboration now centers on Trusted Workforce 2.0, the government’s framework for continuous vetting. “Under the new structure, the government can make changes more easily and introduce new technologies,” Wilder said. “It replaces the old five-year reinvestigation model with real-time awareness.”
Continuous vetting, she explained, enables agencies and contractors to identify risks earlier while maintaining fairness. “It keeps the cleared workforce informed and engaged,” she said. “Communication between employees and security offices has to be frequent and open.”
Artificial intelligence also promises to reshape security work. “We have an enormous amount of data on the cleared population,” Wilder said. “AI can pull that information together into a single pane of glass, giving analysts a more comprehensive view.”
But, she cautioned, technology doesn’t replace people. “AI enables humans to make decisions more efficiently,” she said. “It doesn’t make the decisions for them.”
Inside Peraton, Wilder has redefined what it means to be a security leader. “Security can’t be seen as just a back-office function,” she said. “At Peraton, we’re embedded in the mission from the proposal phase through execution. We’re strategic partners.”
That approach, she believes, strengthens both people and programs. “We know the mission, we know the program, and we help the teams delivering solutions every day,” she said. “Being people-centric and mission-aware—that’s how security drives success.”
