Management

New bill would require FBI recommendation on security clearances for White House appointees 

The Security Clearance Review Act — cosponsored by Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif., would require the president to provide Congress with written justification for overruling an FBI clearance denial of executive office appointees.

Management

Trusted Workforce 2.0: Moving the chains to phase three in federal vetting reform

COMMENTARY | “It's no longer just about strategy—it's about execution,” writes one expert.

Management

Trusted Workforce is the kind of bipartisan, broad government reform we need

COMMENTARY | Creating better, more agile processes for onboarding federal workers, is an example of the kind of reform that’s difficult, but not impossible when government agencies and the executive and legislative branches work together, writes one observer.

Management

Candidate-centric vetting: A new era of mobility

COMMENTARY | Improved tracking of suitability determinations would lead to true reciprocity and transfer of trust, writes one Trusted Workforce 2.0 expert.

Management

High crimes and mental competency don’t keep presidents from security clearances because, they don’t get them

COMMENTARY | Even more important than the president when it comes to protecting classified information are those national security professionals with the jobs of ensuring it is briefed, stored, and shared properly, writes one security clearance expert.

Workforce

Easing federal marijuana rules: There’s still a long way to go

The Drug Enforcement Administration typically looks at three factors when assessing how strictly to regulate a drug: its medicinal value, potential for abuse relative to other drugs and ability to cause physical addiction.

Oversight

An inspector general warned the Justice Department of gaps in its security clearance appeals process

The department and its component agencies have failed to implement a provision of the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act guaranteeing federal employees of the right to appeal lengthy security clearance suspensions.

Workforce

Honesty is always the best policy, but it isn’t a silver bullet for security clearances

COMMENTARY | Candor isn’t helping the growing number of security clearance holders and applicants with drug use issues.

Workforce

National Security compensation set a record high in 2023

COMMENTARY | The uptick in cleared compensation is good news for the national security workforce and also a good thing for national security.

Pay & Benefits

How diverse candidates can better navigate the security clearance process

COMMENTARY | Simple steps can make the security clearance process less of a barrier to keeping diverse candidates out of government careers.

Workforce

Elon Musk and why you should never compare when it comes to security clearances

COMMENTARY | The government looks holistically at the benefits and risks to national security with each clearance granted.

Oversight

GAO: Agencies need to trust each other’s background check processes

An array of technical and cultural challenges plague the federal government’s ability to OK the transfer of federal employees across agencies, the government watchdog found.

Workforce

Could ketamine use cause problems for your security clearance eligibility?

COMMENTARY | When it comes to drug treatments, there’s one key to staying on the right side of a security clearance adjudication.

Management

Continuous vetting identifies risks earlier, and is getting ready to roll out across government

COMMENTARY | If there is an issue that could be flagged, federal employees should report it now, and get help, an expert says.

Management

OPM announces expansion of ‘continuous vetting’ security clearance process for current feds

After a successful pilot, the federal government’s HR agency and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency set a goal of enrolling all employees in non-sensitive public trust positions in the new process for reviewing existing security clearances by the end of fiscal 2024.

Workforce

Bill allowing past cannabis users to become feds advances in House

The bipartisan legislation was amended this week to remove provisions allowing current marijuana users to be eligible for federal employment or a security clearance.

Workforce

National security needs ‘whole people,’ not perfect people

COMMENTARY | The whole person concept is one of the most critical elements of the security clearance process, and one of the most vitally important ones to improving communication around mental health and wellness, writes one observer.

Workforce

Study: Mental health stigmas persist throughout the security clearance process

A new report from Leidos finds that mental health perceptions hurt pipelines of talent into the intelligence community.

Workforce

Cannabis users could become feds under bipartisan House bill

The legislation also would allow federal job applicants who were previously denied positions or security clearances over marijuana usage dating back to 2008 to have those decisions reviewed under the newly proposed policy.

Defense

Leading the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency may be a job no one wants – but it’s an important one

COMMENTARY | “It’s vitally important that the Defense Department onboard the right person for the job, to continue to keep the workforce stabilized and growing,” writes one observer.