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Personnel Security Branch Newsletter - September 2023

MEMORANDUM

DATE: Tuesday, September 12, 2023
TO: Personnel Security Agency Point of Contact 
FROM: Lynette M. Murray, Chief, Security and Drug & Alcohol Testing Division 
SUBJECT: Personnel Security Branch Newsletter - September 2023

Valued Customers:

We wanted to thank you all for entrusting the Department of the Interior’s Interior Business Center with your Personnel Security and PIV Credentialing needs. We have customer relationships dating back as far as 20 years ago and others as new as last week. It’s no secret that there have been several changes within the Personnel Security Arena. The White House made Personnel Vetting reform one of its top priorities with newly published strategies and action plans that we, as your Shared Service Provider, continue to work diligently and effortlessly to implement so that you can continue to focus on your agency mission.  We are sharing this memo so you can provide this information to your agency staff and contractors. 

Personnel Security Federal government-wide is currently transitioning from a Continuous Evaluation approach to a Continuous Vetting (CV) approach. CV is defined as a process that involves regularly reviewing a cleared individual’s background to ensure they continue to meet security clearance requirements and should continue to hold positions of trust. The continuous monitoring includes automated record checks that pulls data capable of generating alerts related to terrorism, foreign travel, financial activity, criminal activity, credit, public records, and eligibility.

Some CV initiatives include electronic application (e-App), National Background Investigation Services software (NBIS), Trusted Work Force (TW), Rap Back, and the three-tiered Federal Investigative Standards. To put your mind at ease, IBC wanted to provide updates and information on these changes. Below are descriptions of the various personnel security initiatives including their impacts on agency employees:

NBIS: The National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) is the federal government’s one-stop shop IT system for end-to-end personnel vetting. This includes from initiation and application to background investigation, adjudication, and continuous vetting. NBIS is a consolidated system designed to deliver robust data protection, enhance customer experience, and better integrate data across the enterprise. Not much applicability or change fora federal government employee. This system is more so an integrated system for those that work day-to-day in Personnel Security.   

e-App: One of the key luxury features of the NBIS system. Formally known as the Electronic Questionnaire for Investigation Processing (e-QIP). e-App is a secure application software replacing the legacy e-QIP system designed to automate the common security questionnaires used to process Federal Background Investigations. Jeff Smith, Executive Program Manager for NBIS at the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), explains e-App as “much more robust with an intuitive front end. It has logic built into it for error checking and correction.” With these changes, it allows applicants to provide a more accurate and complete product to IBC staff, ultimately speeding along the security application process. The questions inquiring about your employment history, addresses, finances, and family, for example, will remain the same on the security questionnaire dependent upon your level of investigation.

Trusted Workforce (TW): TW 2.0 is a whole-of-government background investigation reform effort that is overhauling the personnel vetting process by establishing a government-wide system enhancing security, allowing reciprocity across organizations, and generating cost savings across government. This includes replacing periodic reinvestigations every 5-10 years with a CV program, ensuring a trusted workforce in real-time through automated records checks and inter-agency information sharing.

Rap Back: Short for “Record of Arrest and Prosecution Background” is a system designed to enable authorized agencies to receive ongoing notifications of any Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) reported to the FBI after an individual has been enrolled in the Rap back system. It allows for automated record checks, timed or event-driven investigative activity, and law enforcement-specified information (i.e., FBI, State Police, Local Police, and other agencies) to be reported real-time to the individual’s security office within a 48 – 72-hour time frame of reported activity. To give you an example; John Doe had a couple of beers after celebrating graduation. Upon graduation John Doe decides to drive home. John Doe is pulled over and arrested on the way home. With the Rap Back system, John Doe security office will receive a notification via Rap Back that he was arrested for DUI last night within 48 – 72 hours.    

Three-Tier Investigative Model: The new Federal Investigative Standards establishes a three-tier investigative framework to replace the current five investigative tiers. This move to three tiers aligns investigative requirements for Federal personnel vetting for suitability, fitness, national security (eligibility for access to classified information or to hold a sensitive position), and credentialing decisions to enable a greater workforce mobility. The three tiers are categorized as low-risk, moderate risk, and high risk. The investigation for each tier builds upon the tier below it, with the coverage and complexity of each tier commensurate with designation of the position for which the individual is being vetted.

Self-Reporting: Lastly, one of the major opportunities that Federal employees will have with all the new initiatives is the ability to self-report. Employees that have information to report due to an incident that may have an impact on their clearance or suitability are highly encouraged to reach out to IBC as soon as possible. Self-reporting is a huge part of personal integrity and can go a long way in helping address matters early on, as well as affording employees the opportunity to provide supporting documentation early so that they can focus back on their primary mission.  With this initiative in mind, IBC created two newly confidential methods of reporting information.

1) Email Report_It_2_PSB@ibc.doi.gov. This email is strictly confidential and only routes directly to Branch Chiefs and Supervisors that will follow up with your matter to gather all the information needed.

2) IBC recently transitioned to Microsoft Teams phones and added an “Automated Prompt” that will route you directly to a supervisor to report any concerning information.

As the Personnel Security environment continues to change, IBC will continue to bring you the most current information. In the future, our agency security point of contact will collaborate with the IBC Personnel Security Team to provide employee brown-bag sessions, FAQ documents and various other information to further educate you regarding these changes. 

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