U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Recruiting, Retaining and Honoring a World-Class Workforce to Serve the American People

This system is for position designation of National Security positions, positions in the competitive service, positions in the excepted service where the incumbent can be noncompetitively converted to the competitive service, and career appointments in the Senior Executive Service (SES).

The designation of covered positions¹ is outlined in section 731.106 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations. Every covered position must be designated at the low, moderate, or high risk level as determined by the position's potential for adverse impact on the efficiency and integrity of the service. As the level of authority and responsibility of a position become greater, character and conduct become more significant in deciding whether employment or continued employment would protect the integrity or promote the efficiency of the Federal service.

The designation of National Security positions is outlined in section 3 of Executive Order (E.O.) 10450, as amended, and in section 732.201 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations. Each position in the Federal service not designated as Non-Sensitive must be designated as Noncritical-Sensitive, Critical-Sensitive, or Special-Sensitive, depending on the degree to which, by virtue of the nature of the position, the occupant could bring about a material adverse effect on the national security. The nature of the position includes the incumbent's foreseeable need for access to classified information; under E.O. 12968, eligibility for access to classified information cannot be granted unless such access is clearly consistent with the national security. The nature of the position also includes the level of clearance required (i.e., confidential, secret, or top secret); under E.O. 12958, as amended, the level at which information is classified depends on whether unauthorized disclosure reasonably could be expected to cause "damage," "serious damage," or "exceptionally grave damage" to the national security.

Proper position designation is based on a combined assessment of the three prescribed levels of risk and the four prescribed levels of sensitivity (including the "non-sensitive" level). Position designation determines what type of investigation is required and how closely an individual is screened for a position.

In order to determine the proper designation of a position, the position description and any other necessary supplemental information (e.g. management and security office input) must be carefully evaluated to assess the nature of the position in terms of its clearance requirements or any other impact on national security as well as its impact on the efficiency or integrity of the service. The following four-step process will result in a final designation which, in turn, will dictate the investigative requirements for the position in question. (Note that words and phrases appearing as hyperlinks (shaded in blue font) on this page and throughout the following pages are linked to definitions in the Glossary.)