The assumption at this point, it’s a few rogue investigators. Thoughts?
"Federal investigators who do background checks of Defense officials have been asking if those people have had contact with the news media, apparently veering off the script for national security reviews.
The questioning has alarmed good-government activists, who see it as an attempt to intimidate government officials from speaking with reporters. But the head of the agency that does background checks said that no directive has been issued to investigators on news media contacts and that a few rogue investigators may be at fault."
Federal investigators for security clearances question news media contacts of military officials
My personal opinion is that it’s not an entirely unreasonable question to be asking, but if asked should focus on unauthorized disclosures rather than contact (such unauthorized disclosures can be discovered already during a Subject interview, actually, and is entirely within the scope of supplemental questions being asked).
I’m not sure about “a few rogue investigators” because there have been people on this forum that disclosed they were asked about media contacts for IC positions. Heck, maybe they had contact with the investigators mentioned in the article. Who knows.
My questions are:
Who are the “Defense officials?” (which would dictate the investigative authority)
Who are these “federal investigators” (which would dictate the investigative process and scope of questioning) NBIB? IC? Someone else? NBIB, ICE/CBP, FBI, USSS, IC community, etc. all have different and/or supplemental criteria and lines of questioning they want their investigators asking.
What is the extent of this? The article is very unspecific.
Context matters because they may not actually be out of line if their agency wants it addressed, and the article reads like Director Phalen is the authority for all background investigations–which he is not.
“Answering affirmatively, the reference was told, would delay and possibly prohibit the potential employee from receiving the security clearance.” – Inappropriate if true.