News

Agency News

Jan. 3, 2022

DCSA announces new Deputy Director

Today, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) announced the selection of Daniel J. Lecce as Deputy Director effective January 18, 2022. As Deputy Director, Mr. Lecce will be the principal advisor to the Director. He will assist in shaping policies, managing resources, and leading operational activities to accomplish the Agency’s mission. Mr. Lecce is a tested executive with significant experience leading large and complex organizations. He has experience driving strategic change and posturing organizations to achieve goals and meet future demands. He is a leader who also brings extensive experience managing personnel, budgets, and information technology requirements, top priorities for DCSA. Mr. Lecce is a retired Marine Corps Major General with decades of leadership experience in a variety of roles. Most recently he served as staff judge advocate and senior legal advisor to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. In this role, he provided legal advice to the Commandant and key staff on strategic issues that are relevant to DCSA’s mission: cyber law, intelligence-operations law and intelligence oversight. His proven record and demonstrated leadership skills make him ideally suited to help lead DCSA’s transformation into the future. Mr. Lecce was selected after an extensive process that included a call for nominations from across the security enterprise and intelligence community, throughout DOD, across all interagency partners, and the entire defense industrial base.

Dec. 22, 2021

New NISP eMASS System Security Plan Submission Instructions

The customized workflows within the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) instance of the Enterprise Mission Assurance Support Service (eMASS) have Industry primarily conducting actions in the Control Approval Chain (CAC) and owning a very limited role in the Package Approval Chain (PAC) for Assessment and Authorization (A&A) actions. In order to maximize Industry’s visibility into the A&A process, the NISP eMASS PAC workflows are being modified. Click title for more information

Nov. 12, 2021

Use of Conditional National Security Eligibility Determinations for military, DOD civilian personnel

In November 2021, DCSA Adjudications resumed the use of Conditional National Security Eligibility Determinations for qualifying cases. “Conditionals” provide increased mission resiliency to our customers by diverting national security cases with minor unmitigated disqualifying information from due process into an automated monitoring solution provided by the DCSA Vetting Risk Operations’ Continuous Vetting (CV) program. Leveraging the DCSA VRO CV program in this manner enables Adjudicators to monitor compliance with “conditions” specified to continue maintaining a security clearance. Additional information is available in the Fact Sheet located at https://www.dcsa.mil/mc/pv/dod_caf/resources/. Click the title for more information.

Oct. 1, 2021

National Center for Credibility Assessment transfers to DCSA

The Defense Intelligence Agency officially transferred operational control of the National Center for Credibility Assessment (NCCA) to DCSA on Oct. 1. The transfer of NCCA to DCSA marks two years to the day that the Defense Security Service (DSS), National Background Investigations Bureau and DOD Consolidated Adjudications Facility were consolidated into DCSA. It’s exactly one year since the National Background Investigation Services, legacy information technology systems from the Office of Personnel Management and the Defense Manpower Data Center joined DCSA. Although the smallest of the 2019, 2020 and this year’s transfers, with roughly 75 government and contractor employees, the move is no less significant, bringing a unique mission and capability to DCSA and the Training Directorate. As the government's premiere educational center for polygraph and other credibility assessment technologies and techniques, NCCA assists federal agencies in the protection of U.S. citizens, interests, infrastructure, and security by providing the best education and tools for credibility assessment. NCCA determines the standards related to polygraph initial and continuing education in addition to polygraph countermeasures education and research. The center audits federal polygraph programs to ensure that they are compliant with federal policy, practices and standards. Moreover, NCCA conducts continuous research and development of credibility assessment technologies, processes, and instrumentation in addition to supporting warfighter requirements for the employment of the Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System. The center also advises the directors of DIA, DCSA and National Intelligence as well as the under secretary of defense for intelligence and security on federal polygraph technical matters, policies and standards. We welcome NCAA staff and students to our DCSA team as we work as gatekeepers to ensure our national security is continually protected.

Oct. 1, 2021

DCSA enrolls all DOD clearance holders in CV

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) has successfully enrolled all DOD clearance holders in Continuous Vetting (CV). This brings the agency and the federal government one step closer to its Trusted Workforce (TW) 2.0 goal of providing CV for all U.S. security clearance holders. Find out more here. Click title for more information.

Sept. 23, 2021

DCSA’s New Field Structure

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is establishing a new regional field structure on October 1, 2021. The new structure merges existing field mission areas into a four-region structure that includes Western, Central, Eastern, and Mid-Atlantic jurisdictions. With this new structure in place, for some stakeholders, DCSA points of contact (POC) may change. If your DCSA POC is changing, your current Counterintelligence Special Agent (CISA), Industrial Security Representative (ISR), or Information Systems Security Professional (ISSP) will notify you and ensure there is no break in support. Address any questions about changes to your current CISA/ISR/ISSP. More information can be found here: click the title for more information

Jan. 7, 2019

Reposting of "Implementation of Interim Backlog Mitigation Measures for Entities Cleared by DoD under the National Industrial Security Program" due to an incorrect email in original posting

Oct. 24, 2018 - 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. In accordance with the guidance and direction received from the Executive Agents, Defense Security Service (DSS) will adopt procedures to defer the submission of Tier 3 Reinvestigations (T3Rs) and Tier 5 Reinvestigations (T5Rs) for entities cleared under the National Industrial Security Program. Facility Security Officers should continue to submit completed Standard Form 86 and the reinvestigation request, six years from the date of last investigation for the T5Rs and 10 years from the date of the last reinvestigation for the T3Rs. New reinvestigation requests will be screened by DSS using a risk management approach that permits deferment of reinvestigations according to policy. If the determination is made to defer reinvestigations, individuals will be immediately enrolled into the DoD Continuous Evaluation (CE)/Continuous Vetting (CV) capabilities, as required. 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 CE, 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 Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS), or its successor, should not be denied access based on an out-of-scope investigation. That memorandum is provided here for ease of reference. If you encounter any challenges with this process, please email dss.ncr.dss-dvd.mbx.askvroc@mail.mil for assistance. These procedures will remain in effect until further notice. More information is available in the linked frequently asked questions.