In June 2008 the President issued Executive Order (EO) 13467, “Reforming Processes Related to Suitability for Government Employment, Fitness for Contractor Employees, and Eligibility Access to Classified National Security Information.” The goal of the EO was to align the three major federal personnel security programs, provide consistent standards, facilitate reciprocity,  and create a system where “. . . each successively higher level of investigation and adjudication shall build upon, but not duplicate, the ones below it.”  Seven years later progress toward this goal has been disappointing…

July 28, 2014

For close to two years the Defense Security Service (DSS) has been advising stakeholders about an upcoming change to how interim Secret clearance decisions will be made.  It seems that they are now only a few months away from implementation.

An interim Secret clearance is “based on the completion of minimum investigative requirements.”  It is granted on a “temporary basis, pending the completion of the full investigative requirements” for a Secret clearance and the adjudication of that investigation.  The minimum requirements for interim Secret clearance for defense contractor personnel are the submission of a request for a National Agency Check with Law and Credit (NACLC) and the favorable review of the applicant’s Questionnaire for National Security Positions (Standard Form 86—SF86) and applicable security databases…

On November 9, 2011 the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published its final rule on changes to Title 5 Code of Federal Regulations Part 731 (5 CFR 731), “Suitability.”  The new rule went into effect on December 9, 2011.

The major change to 5 CFR 731 is the requirement to conduct period reinvestigations (PR) on all covered Public Trust (PT) positions.  A covered position is defined as “a position in the competitive service, a position in the excepted service where the incumbent can be noncompetitively converted to the competitive service, and a career appointment to a position in the Senior Executive Service.”  Agency heads are required to “designate every covered position within the agency at a high, moderate, or low risk level as determined by the position’s potential for adverse impact to the efficiency or integrity of the service.”   PT positions are those at the high and moderate risk levels…

Four significant pending changes to federal personnel security policy were mentioned in the published minutes of the March 2013 NISPPAC meeting. These changes were reported by Charles Sowell, the former Deputy Assistant Director for Special Security at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI):

• Revised Federal Investigative Standards
• Revised Adjudicative Guidelines
• New National Reporting Requirements
• New Polygraph Policy

Revised Federal Investigative Standards (FIS)
Although the revised FIS was mentioned by Sowell, nothing was actually reported in the published minutes of the NISPPAC meeting regarding it…

Over the past few decades the mental health question on the most commonly used national security clearance application form has become increasingly complex as the form itself has grown incredibly long and detailed.

The 1964 version of DOD Form 398 (DD398), “Statement of Personal History,” was only 4 pages long and contained no question regarding mental health or mental health treatment.

In 1981 the DD398 was renamed the “Personnel Security Questionnaire,” was reduced from 4 pages to 3 pages, and the following mental health question was added:

Have you ever been a patient (whether or not formally committed) in any institution primarily devoted to the treatment of mental, emotional, psychological, or personality disorders?

In 1990 the DD398 went back to being 4 pages, and the mental health question was revised to read…

Interim federal suitability, fitness, credentialing,¹ and security clearance determinations are based on the completion of partial investigative requirements and are granted on a temporary basis, pending completion of the full investigative requirements and a final eligibility determination.

For many applicants interim clearances are critical. Most interim clearances can be granted in a few days, but final clearances can take months. Not all federal agencies consider interim clearances for all positions, but interim clearances have become widely used because of the excessive length of time it took to complete clearance investigations in the recent past. Many employers need to fill vacant positions quickly and cannot wait for applicants to receive final clearances…

When you accept a federal job offer that requires a security clearance, you will be required to submit a “Questionnaire for National Security Positions,” also known as a Standard Form 86 (SF86). Although the paper version of the SF86 is still in use, most applicants will use the electronic web-based version of the SF86 called e-QIP (Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing)…

HSPD-12, “Policies for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors,” was signed in August 2004 and is one of three major federal personnel security programs. The other two programs encompass national security clearances and federal employment suitability/fitness. For most federal employees and many contractor employees HSPD-12 requirements and processing are nearly invisible, because the issuance of an HSPD-12 compliant Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card occurs almost automatically when there is a favorable security clearance or employment suitability/fitness determination. It was estimated that HSPD-12 compliant cards would have to be issued to 4.3 million federal employees and 1.2 million contractors. According to OMB as of March 2010 only 64% of PIV cards have been issued…

Until recently I worked at the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) where I adjudicated background investigations on defense contractors who had applied for security clearances. Defense contractor cases are usually handled by the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO), but when DISCO is unable to grant a clearance due to the complexity of the case, the entire file is sent to DOHA…

People often use the generic term, “security clearance,” when referring to any government determination regarding an individual’s eligibility for access to protected information, facilities, or computer systems, as well as federal employment suitability or fitness. There are 3 major federal personnel security programs and each has its own terminology. All 3 programs have provisions for an interim eligibility authorization pending the completion of a background investigation and a final eligibility determination. All 3 programs require:

• sponsorship by a federal agency or federal contractor,
• submission of application forms and fingerprints,
• investigation of the applicant’s background, and
• favorable adjudication of the investigation.

The government is in the process of aligning these 3 programs under a single unified structure (see Executive Order 13467), but each program currently has its own standards and processes that are largely separate and distinct from each other…