Federal News Radio has been publishing a great series of articles recently regarding DOD’s efforts to reclaim its own personnel security investigations. For those not quite understanding the state of the industry, this is fantastic insight:
DoD pushing hard to resume responsibility of its own security clearance process:
https://federalnewsradio.com/workforce/2017/10/dod-pushing-hard-to-resume-responsibility-of-its-own-security-clearance-process/
Special Report (1/2) Why OPM is warning against DoD reclaiming the security clearance process:
https://federalnewsradio.com/opm/2017/11/why-opm-is-warning-against-dod-reclaiming-the-security-clearance-process/
Special Report (2/2) How a 3-year-old decision still haunts OPM’s security clearance efforts:
https://federalnewsradio.com/opm/2017/11/how-a-3-year-old-decision-still-haunts-opms-security-clearance-efforts/
Would recommend listening to the audio as well for all articles.
Also, please check out the conversation @lindy.kyzer and @willam-henderson had about the very same topic:
https://news.clearancejobs.com/2017/11/13/will-dss-background-investigation-program-look-different/
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“Moving something from one bucket of the government to another bucket of the government does not necessarily create more efficiency, and generally, it does not" [Subcommittee Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.)]
That was from the article “DoD pushing hard…” The next article points out that OPM took over all investigations back in 2004 when there was a huge backlog for DSS.
But that first article, if I read it correctly says OPM will still perform investigations, but DoD/DSS will start doing “continuous monitoring” (or whatever it is called). Is that correct?
DoD is saying they’re ready to launch their continuous evaluation (CE) program, which has performed well in pilots. One of their arguments is that they will help reduce the backlog of re-investigations by simply introducing CE. Eventually they’ll phase in other tiered work. During this transition period, NBIB will process DoD cases until they are ready for a complete hand-off; DoD would only be receiving newer cases.
OPM would still be performing investigations for non-DoD personnel after the transition. I’m not too sure what the status of OPM’s CE program is.
The hearing itself is fascinating past the half hour mark (after opening statements) and you can get a feel for the arguments being made (relevant CE points 1:10:00 - 1:22:12): https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/security-clearance-investigation-challenges-reforms/