Mr. Daniel Purtill was appointed as the Acting Director of the newly established Security Enterprise Services Directorate in November 2024. While managing an enterprise across the National Capital Region and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Mr. Purtill is dedicated to transforming the security services provided by the Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) in alignment with the Defense Security Enterprise Strategy to counter the increasing and increasingly sophisticated threats to our nation’s security. He has served as the Director of Security and Senior Intelligence Official for WHS since January 2018, delivering multi-disciplined security services to WHS, the Office of the Director of Administration and Management, the Office of the Secretary of War, specified Boards, Commissions, and Task Forces, and other WHS-serviced components, as well as select security support to the staff of the U.S. Congress and U.S. Courts.
Prior to entering his current position, Mr. Purtill served as the Deputy Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) Consolidated Adjudications Facility (CAF) at Fort Meade, Maryland from 2012 to 2018, providing daily operational oversight and support to a staff of more than 600 people. Mr. Purtill led the consolidation and transformation of the seven adjudication facilities from across the Department to form the CAF, serving as its first leader in the role of Acting Director. The Department of Defense CAF, now known as the Adjudication Vetting Services office of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, is the sole authority to determine security clearance eligibility of non-Intelligence Agency Department of War (DoW) personnel, military, civilian, and contractors, occupying sensitive positions and/or requiring access to classified material including Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). In his role as Deputy Director, Mr. Purtill was responsible for operations, security, human resources, financial management, support functions, performance management, strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, policy implementation, and coordination with security and intelligence services across the Federal Government.
Mr. Purtill began working for the WHS CAF in 2007, providing personnel security support to the WHS-serviced customer base and ultimately serving as the CAF Director prior to its consolidation into the Department of Defense CAF in 2012. Mr. Purtill began his career in the federal government in 2003 as a personnel security adjudicator with the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals. Before joining the federal government, Mr. Purtill developed and managed a national training and certification program for travel agents across the U.S. and Caribbean and also worked as an English teacher living in the Republic of Korea. Mr. Purtill has over 20 years of experience in security, beginning with personnel security and expanding to cover the full range of security disciplines. He is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute and a recipient of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service. Mr. Purtill earned a bachelor’s degree in political philosophy from the University of Dallas. A native of New York raised in Texas, he resides in Virginia with his wife and four children.