In May, Lauren Mills, Director of Security for the Integrated Development Office (IDO), was named the 2024 Department of the Air Force Security Award winner for Outstanding Leadership. By August, she had also earned top honors at the AFMC level in the Defense Acquisition Workforce Awards’ security category - now advancing to compete at the Air Force level.
Though Mills has never won a workforce award above the Center level, she’s embracing the moment with humility and humor.
“I feel like I'm peaking,” she laughs. “I'm very humbled by this. I never thought I would have made it this far.”
An Air Force civilian long before IDO’s standup, Mills began her career at Wright-Patterson as a GS-4 administrative assistant through a student employment program. Since 2009, she’s steadily climbed the GS ladder - transitioning from anti-terrorism work to contingency planning, and later to weapons systems security in the MQ-9 program office as well as leading security oversight for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Family of Systems.
Today, Mills leads IDO’s security efforts in partnership with the Integrated Capabilities Command (Provisional), both tasked with accelerating capability development for the Air Force. Her cross-agency strategy has helped safeguard software architectures and mission systems, driving a 38% industrial base expansion and 28% staff growth.
Her award narratives highlight a consistent theme: streamlining security processes while ensuring her team is involved from cradle to grave. “Putting people first” is a cornerstone of her leadership philosophy. Mills regularly collaborates with peers across MAJCOM, Air Staff, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
“My job is to make sure any emerging tech - whether from AFRL, DARPA, or industry - gets the right security protections early, before it becomes part of a program-of-record and it’s too late,” she explains.