The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency has announced all holders of Defense Department security clearances have now been enrolled in a continuous vetting program that replaces the previous practice of periodic reinvestigations every five to 10 years.
DCSA Director William Lietzau told reporters today the full DOD enrollment represents a critical milestone for the agency, which was established in 2019 in conjunction with the transfer of responsibility for conducting background investigations from the National Background Investigations Bureau once run by the Office of Personnel Management.
“This is a significant step in the effort to enhance the trustworthiness of our federal workforce,” he said, noting the full enrollment includes uniformed servicemembers, civilians and contractors.
The new continuous vetting program, he said, offers continuous record checks of “high-value data sources” and “select automated records checks.”
“Continuous record checks means that issues of risk and concerns regarding an individual’s trustworthiness that may have taken years to discover previously, can now be identified and addressed in real time,” he said.
For example, Lietzau said two months ago the DCSA received an alert about an individual from a continuous vetting criminal data check.
The alert, he said, identified a fugitive arrest warrant for attempted murder, felonious assault and other charges related to an incident which occurred the previous day. Subsequent coordination with law enforcement resulted in an arrest.
“The key is that the alert information developed through the DCSA continuous vetting system was received and validated five and a half years before the subject’s next periodic reinvestigation,” Lietzau said.
As another example, Lietzau said the agency received a terrorism alert about an individual in January 2021 just three days after they were enrolled in continuous vetting.
The alert identified the individual as under investigation by another government agency for potential terrorism activities, including planned targeting of U.S. facilities and ties to known or suspected terrorists. Following coordination with law enforcement, the individual was arrested and is pending prosecution.
Lietzau said the alert information received through the continuous vetting program was received and validated eight years before a scheduled periodic reinvestigation of the individual.
“The bottom line is continuous vetting is working,” he said. “It was a good policy to put in place. It’s been implemented in its initial stages in a way that’s making a difference and it’s helping DCSA deliver a trusted workforce.”
Key data sources, Lietzau said, include criminal checks, suspicious financial transactions, counterterrorism databases, international travel and credit reports. He noted the vetting is “done at scale” because DCSA receives requests for about 10,000 background checks per working day.
The full enrollment in continuous vetting is a key step, Lietzau said, on the way to the Trusted Workforce 2.0 implementation, which will include more data categories and more sources of information, including social media.
Following the arrests of military servicemembers and veterans after the Jan 6. riot at the Capitol, the Pentagon has begun wrestling with how to identify extremism in its ranks while protecting the right to individual expression.
Lietzau said the agency has been actively reviewing security clearances of individuals following their participation in the Jan. 6 riot, noting that many of those arrested revealed their participation in the riot on social media.
“I do see more data sources coming online,” he said. “We already have several pilot programs we're working on to look at the value of social media and how you can look at. We're still right now analyzing how much value we think there is in that.”