Defense
The next counterintelligence threat may be hiding in federal hiring
COMMENTARY | Foreign adversaries are exploiting resumes, recruiting and professional relationships to pursue sensitive information. Federal agencies need to recognize the risks without making it harder to recruit the talent they need.
Workforce
Agencies have a new question to answer about employee misconduct
COMMENTARY | New rules could give agencies another way to act on misconduct uncovered through continuous vetting. The challenge will be making sure they’re ready to use it.
Workforce
OPM’s new suitability authority blurs the line between hiring vetting and employee discipline
COMMENTARY | A change allowing suitability actions for post-appointment misconduct could reshape how agencies respond to issues uncovered through continuous vetting, but the Office of Personnel Management’s willingness to use it will determine whether it becomes a routine tool or a rarely used exception.
Tech
AI is taking parts of background checks from 'months to hours,' clearance agency says
A Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency official says advanced AI can cut parts of the vetting process from months to hours.
Tech
DOJ shutters alleged China-linked operation targeting current and former feds
The sites posed as consulting companies and used paid research opportunities to connect with people holding national security expertise, prosecutors said.
Management
New contract for background investigations raises concerns about scale and risk
COMMENTARY | As the government expands continuous vetting and increases workload demands, questions are emerging about whether the acquisition approach can support the mission without delays or performance issues.
Defense
The clearance system is mission infrastructure. Treat it like one
COMMENTARY | Clearance reform is not optional. Without sustained leadership and consistent execution, government modernization risks undermining the trusted workforce it depends on.
Management
FBI Director Kash Patel waived polygraph security screening for Dan Bongino, two other senior staff
As the FBI’s deputy director, Bongino receives some of the country’s most sensitive secrets, including the President’s Daily Brief. His ascent to that position without passing a standard bureau background check is unprecedented, insiders say.
Management
Security clearance secrecy faces new scrutiny after Elon Musk disclosures
COMMENTARY | A federal judge’s order to release some details of Musk’s security clearances highlights how public disclosures by high-profile individuals can erode Privacy Act protections and raises questions about transparency and accountability in the clearance process.
Workforce
Who should the government trust? Now’s your chance to weigh in
COMMENTARY | A new OPM rule would give agencies more power to remove employees deemed untrustworthy—part of a bigger shift toward a single, risk-based vetting system.
Management
It's time for a Security Clearance Ready Reserve
COMMENTARY | A Clearance Ready Reserve would serve as a strategic hedge against attrition, espionage and workforce volatility.
Transition
Senior Democrat wants to know who in the Trump White House got Top Secret clearance without a complete background check
Trump issued a memo providing temporary security clearances for certain personnel, arguing delays in their vetting were "unacceptable."
Transition
Trump wants a faster security clearance process, too
COMMENTARY | Priorities shift with every election cycle, but one remains constant: the demand for a more efficient government hiring process including security clearance eligibility and vetting.
Defense
20 years of clearance reform: From intelligence reform to Trusted Workforce
COMMENTARY | It’s time to finish what the 2004 Intelligence Reform And Terrorism Prevention Act started, argues one clearance expert.
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