DISCO News
| 07/16/2012 | DISCO discusses "Eligibility Pending" and other topics during the AskDISCO webinar on July 24, 2012 at 1:30 pm EST. |
| 07/13/2012 | Most common reasons security clearance requests are rejected by DISCO and OPM  |
| 06/25/2012 | National Identity Cards: DSS has noted that there are cleared contractor employees using a foreign-issued National Identity Card (NIC) instead of a U.S. passport when traveling abroad. Contractors who become aware of cleared employees traveling outside of the United States using documentation that is other than a U.S. passport should make a report to DISCO in accordance with NISPOM 1-302a when they become aware of the fact that such travel occurred, or when a cleared employee exercises any right, privilege or obligation of foreign citizenship regardless of the circumstances. DSS recognizes that possession of a NIC by a cleared employee may not mean the employee is exercising the rights, privileges or obligations of foreign citizenship, but may be a requirement to reside in a foreign country. Reports involving cleared employees using a NIC instead of a U.S. passport when traveling abroad should be submitted as an incident report in the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS). DISCO will make a determination regarding the cleared employee's continued eligibility for access to classified information based upon the facts and circumstances reported. For questions or inquiries regarding this guidance, please send them to: call.center@dsshelp.org. |
| 05/03/2012 | Most common reasons security clearance requests are rejected by DISCO and OPM |
| 04/30/2012 | Electronic Fingerprint Capture Options for Industry |
| 01/31/2012 | Identifying Consultant, Contractor and Key Management Personnel (KMP) in JPAS |
| 01/13/2012 | Contractor Employees with JPAS Accounts The Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) recommends that all JPAS account holders who have not purchased PKI certificates should logon to JPAS by 20 January 2012. This will allow you the maximum amount of time to purchase credentials before your JPAS account is deleted due to 90 days of inactivity. For additional information, please visit the DMDC website. |
| 12/23/2011 | Deadline approaches for Industry to obtain Medium Token or Medium Hardware Assurance certificates needed for accessing JPAS |
| 11/28/2011 | Completing and Reviewing the Questionnaire for National Security Position SF-86 |
| 09/09/2011 | Organizational Information Required on an SF312 (Effective 10/1/2011). As of Oct. 1, 2011, the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office will no longer accept an SF312, Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, without the organizational information (located in block 11). Please ensure all required blocks are complete or the SF312 will be considered incomplete and returned for correction. |
| 06/14/2011 | Most Common Reasons Security Clearance Requests are Rejected by the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office and the Office of Personnel Management |
| 05/19/2011 | DISCO answers frequently asked questions on electronic fingerprint capture. |
| 05/18/2011 | The Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) is currently making arrangements with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to have subject interviews completed in designated overseas locations for individuals whose investigations have not been completed due to the overseas deployment. DISCO will contact companies to identify individuals employed by their company who are overseas and still require a completed investigation, and to determine when the individuals will be made available for the interview in the designated locations. |
| 06/09/2010 | National Industrial Security Program (NISP) Cleared Contractor Facilities Periodic Reinvestigations for Cleared Personnel: Effective immediately, the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) will identify and subsequently notify NISP cleared contractor facilities of cleared personnel who are eligible or overdue for a periodic reinvestigation (PR). Eligibility for a PR is contingent upon the access level and the closed date of the investigation. Contractor facilities are highly encouraged to begin identifying those employees who maintain a security clearance and are eligible for a PR. This will allow the cleared contractor facility to reconcile any discrepancies between the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS) and the actual employment or clearance status of the employee. |
| 3/22/2010 | Recording of Dual Adjudication Actions in JPAS Concludes: Since August 24, 2009 users of the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS) may have noticed that the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) began issuing two adjudications for individual cases. This procedure was a necessary temporary "fix" to generate eligibility change notifications while DISCO began using the Case Adjudication Tracking System (CATS) to adjudicate electronic investigations. We are proud to announce that, effective February 27, 2010 a JPAS modification has been completed eliminating the need for dual entry of actions. |
| 11/20/2009 | Foreign Passport: Disposition Influences Personnel Clearance Eligibility: DISCO will not grant or continue a personnel clearance if the clearance applicant or cleared individual possesses a current foreign passport. In instances where the foreign passport is the sole potential disqualifying factor in the personnel clearance adjudication, DISCO will send a Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS) message to the Facility Security Officer (FSO) stating that if DISCO receives reliable documentary evidence that the foreign passport has been destroyed, invalidated, or surrendered, DISCO will grant or continue the clearance. The passport holder may surrender the foreign passport to the FSO for safekeeping, but the FSO is not required to perform this service. If the FSO does accept the surrendered passport and the FSO subsequently returns the passport to the cleared individual while the passport is current, the FSO must submit an incident report in JPAS with details concerning the return of the passport. Reasons for the return of the employee's foreign passport should be provided in the incident report, even if the reasons are compassionate (e.g., when the passport is returned because the individual states that he or she needs it in order to visit a sick relative in another country). An incident report must be submitted even if the passport is returned at the time of the individual's employment termination. An example of the documentary evidence sufficient to establish surrender of the passport (when the passport is surrendered to the FSO), includes a statement signed by the FSO on company letterhead, stating that the applicant has surrendered his or her passport, providing details about the passport [i.e., identifying the issuing country, passport number, date of issuance and expiration date], and stating that the company will report any return of the passport to the passport holder, by submission of an incident report explaining the action. |
| 07/24/2009 | Bond Amendment |
| 11/21/2008 | Notice to Cleared Contractor Facilities Regarding Top Secret Investigations: The Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) notes that some facilities request Top Secret eligibility soon after Secret eligibility was granted for the same individual. There is an appearance that contractors take this action because of the belief that Secret eligibility is granted much faster than Top Secret eligibility. When Top Secret eligibility is requested, DISCO reviews the Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI) package to determine if interim Secret eligibility can be granted. This review for interim Secret eligibility is conducted just as quickly as when only a Secret clearance has been requested. In many cases, an interim Top Secret eligibility is subsequently granted after completion of the National Agency Check (NAC) portion of the SSBI. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has significantly reduced completion times for the average SSBI. If an individual requires Top Secret eligibility, it is more efficient for contractors to initially request Top Secret eligibility rather than making a request for Secret eligibility. Following this practice will result in efficient processing, less work and expense for the facility, DISCO and OPM. |
| 06/20/2008 | PSC Update: The PSC document, Maintaining a Personnel Security Clearance, Incident Reports – what, when and why, has been updated. Click here to view it. |
| 06/09/2008 | Pilot of Secure Web Fingerprint Transmission (SWFT) DSS will conduct a pilot of its Secure Web Fingerprint Transmission (SWFT) system from June 30, 2008 through October 31, 2008. Click here for more details. |
Initial results of annual PSI survey Preliminary results reflect an 83% completion/submission rate, an increase from the 70% completion/submission rate from the fall 2007 survey. The increase in the submission rate is due to increased efforts by the Personnel Security Clearance Office to provide advanced notice of the survey as well as the efforts of the PSC-ISP survey team, in coordination with Industrial Security Representatives and Field Office Chiefs, to correct email addresses before and during the survey. Analysis by the Clearance Oversight Office of the survey results will provide further data on the submission rate and cleared population represented for planning and budgeting. |