That made me think:
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Sine Pari, March 6, 2008) – “I just saw myself as a simple ex-cop. Nobody was going to take me.”
However, those around Joe DiNoto knew his real potential.
In 2003, the 33-year-old veteran criminal investigator for the state of New York left a promising career behind to get more involved in the War on Terrorism.
Born and raised in New York City, law enforcement ran through the veins of DiNoto and his clan. His grandfather worked for the U.S. Customs Service, and his uncle is a decorated detective with the New York City Police Department. DiNoto also has two cousins in law enforcement, one in the NYPD and the other serving with the United Nations’ International Police Task Force.
“I always wanted to be a cop,” DiNoto said. “I always wanted to serve my country. To me, coming from a Northeastern state like New York or New Jersey, law enforcement is very often family tradition. It’s generational service. It was just a matter of finding the right fit for me.”
A grandson of Italian immigrants, DiNoto said he grew up in a very patriotic household.
“In my house, we never called ourselves Italian-Americans,” he said. “We called ourselves American-Italians. It was always America first.”
Growing up in the Bronx wasn’t easy, DiNoto said. Knowing the road ahead, he worked hard to get into the law enforcement field. He worked to put himself through college, and then in 1996 he attended the New York State Police Academy. DiNoto graduated valedictorian of his class and was assigned to New York City as a criminal investigator.
“We did criminal investigations, surveillance and undercover operations,” he said. “Most of the groups were trans-national organized crime groups.”
In 1999, DiNoto received a promotion to senior criminal investigator and assumed command of a specialized undercover squad of investigators. This unit operated out of the 87th floor of 2 World Trade Center. During his command he worked alongside the NYPD’s Terrorism Interdiction Unit and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Additionally, DiNoto served as an instructor for the police academy, teaching everything from firearms and tactics, to acquisition and management of confidential informants.
“When they had the academy courses they would bring me in as an adjunct,” DiNoto said. “Surveillance and undercover ops were my forte.”
Like so many others, Sept. 11, 2001, became personal to DiNoto. Not only was the attack on his city, but on the very squad he commanded in the World Trade Center. DiNoto said this became one of the turning points in his career.
“Losing my guys in the trade center was a big driving factor for me deciding to leave the career that I had and coming to support the Soldiers within USASOC,” he said.
Shortly afterward, DiNoto was promoted to supervising criminal investigator. This time he assumed command of an intelligence division, which had a sole task of infiltrating, disrupting and exploiting trans-national organized crime groups and terrorist organizations. It was at this time DiNoto led his largest operation to date, a counterterrorism undercover assignment named Operation Phoenix, in honor of his comrades who died in the attacks on Sept. 11. Under his command were nearly 50 other seasoned criminal investigators for Task Force Phoenix.
Joe DiNoto as an undercover agent.
“My greatest contribution to the country, I feel, was Operation Phoenix,” he said. “We rounded up a group providing material support for Hezbollah. The ATF, DOJ and U.S. Secret Service were all involved in this operation.”
In the days following the operation, DiNoto’s desire to become more involved in the War on Terrorism grew. In 2003 he applied for the Department of the Army G-2 Security Specialist Intern Program.
“For me, it was more about supporting the SOF warfighter,” he said. “When I applied for the program, I had different commands contact me for interviews. I was very interested to get more involved, but I was really holding out for Fort Bragg, specifically USASOC. I didn’t think I had a chance to get it.”
It was not until DiNoto received a call from John Watkins, chief of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command’s Security Operations Division, that he realized the possibilities that were ahead of him.
“John Watkins had the, I’d call it insight, to see how all my experience would translate so well to a SOF environment, with all the undercover work I did,” he said. “It wasn’t until he interviewed me that I decided to quit my job. He’s the reason I’m here.”
If first impressions are everything, then Watkins was in for an interesting surprise.
“When I came in for the interview I was still working undercover,” DiNoto said. “I had a huge beard, but that was my real beard, and was wearing a suit. He didn’t know what to think. I looked like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” he said laughingly.
After his interview with Watkins, DiNoto said he made his decision. He quit his job as supervising criminal investigator, packed his bags and drove straight from New York City to Fort Bragg in the middle of the night.
DiNoto spent the next two years learning all he could from USASOC’s Security Operations Division, rotating through the sections ranging from personnel and industrial security, to foreign disclosure and technology protection. It was there that he found his knack.
In 2005, DiNoto became the chief of USASOC’s Foreign Disclosure and Technology Protection Branch and was appointed the command foreign disclosure officer for USASOC. In this position, in which he still serves today, he is authorized by both the Headquarters of the Department of the Army and USASOC as the sole designated disclosure authority for all Army Special Operations Forces.
The need to protect both classified and controlled unclassified information within the Army is crucial to national security. Therefore, only certain officials can release military information to foreign representatives. Therefore, only certain officials who are specially trained can legally be authorized to release military information to foreign representatives.
“I provide international security cognizance for any of USASOC’s missions (with foreign forces),” he said. “We work by, with and through regular and irregular foreign forces. Everything we do is by, with and through foreign forces.”
One of the most critical tasks DiNoto has in USASOC is to provide security awareness for disclosing or transferring SOF tactics, techniques and procedures.
“The State Department has deemed SOF TTP an article of war and made it export controlled,” he said. “(Transferring SOF TTP) is viewed and screened the same as if we were contemplating the transfer of a sensitive piece of militarily critical technology to a foreign country.”
After serving in USASOC for more than four years, DiNoto considers himself fortunate to be able to work in such a place.
“It’s a very humble feeling to walk through the halls of this building,” he said. “I think most people don’t give enough reverence to where they are when they walk through this building.”
DiNoto compared it to his time as a cop in New York, walking through the police headquarters.
“They have a ‘Wall of Honor’ and you can see their faces, all the cops who died in the line of duty,” he said. “I think a lot of times people forget the sacrifices that are made. Very often you will see an employee just coming in right at eight o’clock and running for the door at five. They are usually the same ones who sit at their desk and spend a large amount of their time complaining about office noise, or how they’re unhappy with their computer equipment or that the chair they are sitting in is not comfortable enough. I have no patience for stuff like that. At the end of the day, it’s very humbling to be here. I consider myself very lucky to be amongst the ranks of the Soldiers and civilians who are in USASOC.”
It is being among those Soldiers motivates DiNoto day-by-day.
“I’m proud that I can bring my experiences to USASOC to support them in the GWOT,” he said. “Our Soldiers are leading the GWOT. They’re the largest component of USSOCOM. The whole concept of SOF started at Bragg. Bragg is the center of the SOF universe and USASOC is at the helm of that.”
DiNoto said many of the attributes that made his police units work so well together were also found in USASOC.
“I liken a lot of my approach and mentality working here to that of when I was a supervising criminal investigator,” he said. “We’ve got a team, we’ve got a department, we’ve got leadership. It’s about teamwork, loyalty, honor, and it’s about duty.”
Even though DiNoto left his family in New York City, both biological and brothers-in-arms, to continue his support of the War on Terror, he has discovered a new family in USASOC.
“The USASOC Security Ops Division is a very tight group of security subject matter experts who remain very protective of USASOC’s soldiers, missions and leadership,” DiNoto said. “It’s almost like being in a neighborhood schoolyard in the south Bronx. If you’re a bad guy or an outsider you don’t wanna just walk in there off the street. You don’t know what might happen to you if you do, but you can be guaranteed it won’t be a fair fight so you’d be better off going somewhere else to snoop around,” he said jokingly.
With all he has accomplished thus far, DiNoto still feels the best is yet to come.
“My goal is to make my entire federal career serving USASOC,” he said. “If I can have all my wishes come true, it would be to stay at USASOC until I die at my desk, supporting what the Soldiers here do.”
With that in mind, DiNoto has his eye set on one very specific chair.
“One day down the road, I would like to become Chief of the Security Ops Division,” he said. “That would be the pinnacle of my career. As a cop, I would liken that to starting out as a street cop and one day being appointed as the police commissioner.”
http://sinepari.soc.mil/News/2008/March/SP-080306-01.html
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