Tyne Truong is an Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) National Security, Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation/Export Control Investigations Division. He is a proactive security leader with experience across law enforcement, government operations, defense and intelligence, working with stakeholders in private and public sectors for the delivery of innovative security solutions.
The best advice he can give is to know the important difference between a “leader” and a “manager/supervisor,” he says. “Understanding that although both aspects are important for the success of the enterprise, it is good leadership that will have the most profoundly positive influence on that organization’s culture and its long-term effectiveness. Once you realize that you lead people and you manage ‘things and processes,’ you can accordingly frame the challenges that you’ll encounter, no matter how adverse, to achieve the best business-aligned security outcomes for your organization. I truly believe the consequences of positive or negative leadership styles are that much more amplified for security and law enforcement personnel tasked with protecting people, assets and organizational reputation.”
After entering the DHS post-9/11, and serving in HSI, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and U.S. Customs Service, Truong deployed project management methodologies on an enterprise level, and created and implemented national policy with an enterprise-wide grasp on threat and vulnerability.
This is something Truong is proud of. “Architecting and authoring new global policies from the ground up for DHS shortly after its founding, I’m proud of having transformed disparate legacy agency policies governing global security, investigations and strategies into new, cohesive and operationally effective ones that have facilitated thousands of successful law enforcement operations, investigations and security outcomes for the newly formed department. I’ve had the honor of leading some of the best people in law enforcement during the deployment of these new guidelines in operational settings and along the way, managed some of the most successful national security and public safety campaigns for our agency.”
Truong served as a National Program Manager for the agency's National Undercover Operations Unit and was responsible for being a national policy developer, writer and implementer for enterprise risk, critical incident management, operations security and investigations oversight of the agency's worldwide undercover operations enterprise. Today, he leads the agency's counterproliferation and export control program in Los Angeles to ensure robust outreach to community and security industry leadership regarding export violations of controlled technologies and materials, oftentimes within the defense industrial base.
Throughout his career, Truong has paid it forward when it comes to mentoring his colleagues and staff. A number of the individuals whom he has mentored have themselves become executive managers at both the agency headquarters and field levels. Based on his service and accomplishments, he has been honored with the DHS Secretary’s Meritorious Service Award and Director’s Excellence in Law Enforcement Award. He is a Distinguished Homeland Defense Fellow at the National Defense University.
