Maintaining Personnel Security Clearances

NISPOM Paragraph 3-106 requires that an individual issued an initial personnel security clearance (PCL) execute a Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement (SF-312) prior to being granted access to classified information and that the completed form is forwarded to the Cognizant Security Agency for retention. The Facility Security Officer (FSO) is responsible for uploading the signed SF-312 into the DISS application.

For instructions on how to complete NDA actions, please reference the user manual, under the Help link on the DISS JVS application or review the Adjudications and Vetting Services Customer Service Request DISS Tips and Tricks.

FSOs should submit reports for personnel with a security clearance, in-process for a clearance, or a that have a clearance eligibility that could be reinstated, in accordance with the reporting requirements in paragraph 1-302 of the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM). DISS provides the incident report capability to facilitate this reporting. At this time, the FSO should mark report as "final" rather than "initial".

It is strongly recommended incident reports be submitted via DISS. The system was designed to accommodate incident reporting. Submitting incidents via DISS provides immediate assurance of receipt and eliminates the manual handling by multiple individuals when hard copy requests are received and entered into DISS by adjudication staff.

To facilitate quicker processing of incident reports, the report must include the basic information covering "who" (who was involved; for example: subject, law enforcement agency, court name), "what" (what is/was the incident), "where" (where did the incident happen; for example: city, state), and "when" (when did the incident occur). When submitting an incident report, refer to the questions on the SF-86 relating to the incident and provide as much of the information as possible relative to those questions. An adjudicator will review the submitted report and determine if the item may be closed and a new eligibility adjudication entered, or if a partial investigation is required to provide the adjudicator sufficient information to make an adjudication. After the incident report is reviewed by the adjudicator, the FSO may receive a request for the person to submit a new SF 86, Questionnaire for National Security Positions; this does not happen in all cases. If such a request is made, the FSO should initiate the request to the employee using DISS. If the request is not received by AVS within 30 days from the date of request, AVS will administratively withdraw the eligibility determination by changing the eligibility to Loss of Jurisdiction. At that time, all access must stop.

Sources from which an incident report may be received:

• Facility Security Officers (FSO)
• Other Government Agencies
• Investigative process
• Another CAF's decision to Deny, Revoke or Suspend a (Federal) security clearance
• Anyone who knows the person

If there is a question on the ability for the person to have continued access when an incident report is reflected, contact the Knowledge Center for assistance.

DISS should be used to check on the status of a pending investigation. If the FSO does not yet have access to DISS, the status of an employee's investigation may be checked by calling the Knowledge Center.

The Mass Personnel Change feature enables authorized users in one action to take mass actions. The types of mass actions include:

1. separate (terminate) the association;
2. separate and transfer personnel associations among multiple facility organizations (MFO);
3. separate and transfer non-MFOs;
4. or transfer to non-MFOs. Items 2 and 3 overlay the category and will create a history item for the action; item 4 adds an additional person category to the person's record, i.e. adds a new affiliation to the person.

After performing a mass change, a check should be completed to ensure that all actions were accomplished. If an open incident report exists or the access is suspended, the person's record will not be modified. There are additional restrictions for Key Management Personnel (KMP) since the FCL may be affected. Verify from the Ineligible Personnel list the actions that the system did not complete.

Other helpful processing hints include:

• When using the mass action capability, access downgrades are based on the organization's eligibility and not the person's eligibility. This also applies when moving access to another organization.
• Only United States (US) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) accesses can be downgraded. For example, SCI access can not be downgraded in a mass action.
• Adjudication and Vetting Services (AVS) receives notification when a mass personnel change is affected on an individual with an open investigation. Individuals will appear on the Ineligible Personnel List within the Mass Personnel Changes screen. Manual processing of these actions is required. No further notification to AVS is required for individuals with an open investigation.
• Notify AVS when an action is pending on a person, e.g. pending incident report, pending adjudication and pending investigation request (not an open investigation). A Research request should be submitted on persons with pending actions to indicate the type of action that is required.
• The Separation type "Facility Termination" should only be used when the organization's eligibility has been terminated.
• When personnel appear on the Ineligible Personnel List and are identified as KMPs, you must complete the action by using the Add/Modify non-DoD Person screen. As a reminder, changes in the status of KMPs are still reportable to your Industrial Security Representative in accordance with the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM), 1-302h item 3.
• A history action is created for an organizational change.

The Adjudication and Vetting Services (AVS) has overhauled the (Request for Research and Upgrade) process and is only accepting Custer Service Request (CSR) submissions via DISS.

Please check the DCSA Knowledge Center for additional questions.

Defense Manpower Data Center’s (DMDC) Contact Center

Customer Service Hours: 6:00 am – 8:00 pm ET, Monday - Friday (excluding federal holidays)
Toll-Free Telephone: (800) 467-5526
DSN Telephone: (312) 983-9580
Menu Options

1. DISS
2. JPAS
3. EQIP
4. SWFT
5. DCII
6. Personnel/General Inquiry
7. STEPP/ISFD/FCL

NOTE: The Call Center is only able to 'unlock/reset' JPAS accounts for users needing to register PK log-in certificates. The Call Center cannot assist with unlocking PK log-in certificate PINs/Passwords. This assistance can be provided by your PK vendor help desk. Please see the JPAS PKI FAQs for more details.

Upon separation from the organization, the FSO enters a separated date for the employee in the system. If an investigation is open for the employee, a notification will be forwarded to the appropriate AVS to determine whether the investigation needs to be cancelled. Notify AVS via a Customer Service Request (CSR) in DISS when a separation occurs and either of the following two items exist. Notification will permit AVS to take appropriate actions on the record.

• An action is pending on a person, e.g. pending incident report, pending adjudication and pending investigation request
• There is not an open investigation and an interim eligibility exists

Procedures have not yet been standardized across DoD on how to handle JPAS owning and servicing relationships when Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) access is involved.

The owning activity is responsible for maintaining the individual's clearance record.

If your organization provides the SCI indoctrination, then your organization should take the JPAS user level 2 or 3 owning relationship with the individual and the Government Activity may take a servicing relationship. This will permit both organizations to receive eligibility change notifications. If your organization does not provide the SCI indoctrination, then your organization should take a level 2 or 3 servicing relationship and the Government Activity will take the owning relationship. It is recommended that you discuss with your Government Activity the procedures they prefer.

When completing requests to initiate investigations, annotate the investigation request in one of the following areas to indicate the need for SCI (or SAP) adjudication. Identify the unclassified SCI/SAP name in the contract number section, or have the person identify the information in the remarks section of the Personnel Security Questionnaire.

For AF SCI eligibility determinations, an SCI SMO must be recorded on individual's clearance record that requires the SCI determination. Failure to reflect the SCI SMO will mean that the AF CAF will not process the request

In early June 2018, the Director of National Intelligence, in his capacity as the Security Executive Agent, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, in his capacity as the Suitability & Credentialing Executive Agent (Executive Agents), jointly issued a memorandum directing the implementation of interim measures intended to mitigate the existing backlog of personnel security investigations at the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB). These measures include the deferment of reinvestigations when screening results are favorable and mitigation activities are in place, as directed.

The Executive Agents have directed all Federal departments and agencies to reciprocally accept the prior favorable adjudication for deferred reinvestigations that are out of scope (overdue). Existing eligibility remains valid until the individual is removed from CV, no longer has any DoD affiliation, or has their eligibility revoked or suspended.

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence signed a memorandum on December 7, 2016, reminding DoD Components that personnel security clearances do not expire. Individuals with current eligibility in the Defense Information Security System (DISS), or its successor, should not be denied access based on an out-of-scope investigation. Frequently Asked Questions Regarding: 2018 Implementation of Interim Backlog Mitigation Measures for Entities Cleared by DoD under the National Industrial Security Program are available.