HOW THE CLEARANCE PROCESS WORKS
Using SECNAV M-5510.30,
the Personnel Security Program manual, and associated executive orders
and directives, DONCAF adjudicators, who receive both formal and
recurring training throughout their careers, apply national adjudicative
guidelines to background information gathered mainly in investigations
conducted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The investigations contain information regarding
an individual’s loyalty, character, reliability, trustworthiness, and
honesty. Additional areas of concern include foreign connections,
discharge of security responsibilities, alcohol or drug abuse,
psychological conditions, financial responsibility, criminal conduct,
misuse of information technology information, and various other areas of
personal conduct. Sources of information include neighbors, co-workers,
supervisors, law enforcement agencies, schools, doctors, credit
bureaus, and from the subjects themselves.
All cases coded as issue-free by OPM are forwarded
immediately upon receipt at the DONCAF to the Fast Track Team. If the
background investigation provides no unfavorable information and the
DONCAF has not received disqualifying information from other sources
such as the individual’s command, the individual will be determined
eligible for a security clearance. The DONCAF goal is to provide a
clearance eligibility determination to the command on such
investigations within 14 days of receipt.
Background investigations containing potentially
disqualifying information are forwarded to one of ten teams that will
make an adjudicative determination. If the investigation contains
unresolved issues, the adjudicator may request additional information
from OPM or the command to ensure sufficient information exists on which
to base an adjudicative decision. If the investigation does contain
unfavorable information, an adjudicator assigned to one of these teams
reviews the potentially disqualifying information and balances that
information against fact that might mitigate (tend to make less serious)
the behavior. The adjudicator considers the seriousness of the
behavior, when the behavior occurred, the frequency of the behavior, and
the individual’s age, and may decide that the individual does not pose
an unacceptable risk to national security.
In those instances where the decision is not
favorable, the adjudicator prepares a recommendation to deny or revoke
the clearance eligibility and forwards the recommendation to a senior
adjudicator. To ensure that the decision to revoke or deny a clearance
eligibility or SCI access eligibility is properly made, the case
receives at least two levels of review. Senior supervisory personnel
make the final determination regarding such denials or revocations. Once
an individual has been notified of the DONCAF’s intent to revoke or
deny clearance eligibility, he or she is afforded the opportunity to
provide additional, clarifying information before a final decision is
made. Final decisions by DONCAF to revoke or deny clearance eligibility
or SCI access eligibility may be appealed in one of two ways. The
individual may request a personal appearance before the Defense Office
of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) who makes a recommendation to the DoN
Personnel Security Appeals Board (PSAB), or, they may make a written
appeal directly to PSAB. The PSAB’s finding ends the due process within
the DON.
DONCAF PRODUCTIVITY AND BACKLOG
PRODUCTIVITY: In FY06, the DONCAF adjudicated
187,856 clearance eligibilities, which amounts to 24% of the DON end
strength (771,181). In FY07 (to date), the DONCAF has adjudicated
130,716 clearance eligibilities. The projected amount of incoming cases
in FY07 totals 230,000.
BACKLOG: The DONCAF adjudicative backlog,
which peaked at 107,000 in March 2001, stood at 5,564 cases awaiting
adjudication at the conclusion of FY06. DONCAF anticipates it will take
approximately six months to overcome the backlog and reach the
acceptable norm of 25,000 or less on-hand cases awaiting adjudication.
ADJUDICATIVE
"LAPSE-TIME": The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act (IRTPA) of 2004
requires 80% of initial security clearance adjudications to be
completed within 30 days. In FY06 our lapse times were less than 20
days. During 2nd QTR FY07, our lapse times slightly exceeded the IRTPA
requirement. The DONCAF is continuing to review its organizational
structure and current business processes to ensure it has adequate
capability to effectively and efficiently meet the needs of its
customers and the war-fighting mission.