Background Investigation Scheduling Halted Due to Government Shutdown

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Originally published at: https://www.clearancejobsblog.com/background-investigation-scheduling-halted-due-to-government-shutdown/

The Defense Counterintelligence Agency (DCSA) provided notification to Industry and Government Stakeholders that because of the lapse on appropriated funding and the government shutdown, it cannot approve/authorize the submission of background investigations that were not scheduled prior to October 1st. Investigations that were in progress prior to the lapse in funding will continue. The notification…

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I met a guy who was a CI agent at one of the IC agencies. His start date was supposed to line up with the next special agent training course, but something happened and he had to wait a couple months…

…so they sent him to do adjudications! No training except maybe some deskside instruction, and this guy had no background in intel or national security or anything… think he came from a large commercial company’s security department.

I’m not saying all adjudicators are like this, but when the agency is desperate they’re willing to resort to such measures. Hope they had some way to send him the straightforward cases, and a next level review to back him up.

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Stupid question, but how do we know if our investigation was started prior to October 1st?

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Your FSO should be able to see in DISS what the scheduled date is if it was started before 10/1.

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Do I ask them about it? Is it something they can share?

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Update from DCSA:

Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) has implemented a temporary pause in fingerprint submissions to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) due to the ongoing government shutdown. Starting October 16, 2025, the Agency will temporarily halt the transmission of fingerprints submitted under the 346W Submitting Office Number (SON) by National Industrial Security Program (NISP) contractors to the FBI.

This pause is necessary as part of the operational impacts of the government shutdown. Contractors may continue to capture and submit fingerprints electronically to DCSA during this period. However, fingerprints submitted will remain in a queue until DCSA resumes processing.

Important Information for Contractors:

  • The 120-day processing countdown will not begin until fingerprints are released to the FBI.

  • Fingerprints will not expire while they are in the queue.

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