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New Federal Agency For Stronger Protections Of Background Investigations

Office of Personnel Management logo Fallout continues from the massive data breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in 2015. The U.S. Federal government announced a reorganization to provide stronger protections of sensitive information collected during background investigations for federal employees and contractors. The reorganization features several changes including a new agency, the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB). The WhiteHouse.gov site announced:

"... the establishment of the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB), which will absorb the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) existing Federal Investigative Services (FIS), and be headquartered in Washington, D.C.  This new government-wide service provider for background investigations will be housed within the OPM. Its mission will be to provide effective, efficient, and secure background investigations for the Federal Government. Unlike the previous structure, the Department of Defense will assume the responsibility for the design, development, security, and operation of the background investigations IT systems for the NBIB."

After the massive data breach at OPM, several federal agencies conducted a joint 90-Day Suitability and Security review. The agencies involved included the Performance Accountability Council (PAC), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the Director of the U.S. OPM, the Departments of Defense (DOD), the Treasury, Homeland Security, State, Justice, Energy, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and others.

According to its Fact Sheet, the OPM’s Federal Investigative Services (FIS) unit currently conducts investigations for more than 100 Federal agencies. The FIS conducts more than 600,000 security clearance investigations and 400,000 suitability investigations annually. An NBIB Transition Team will oversee the migration to the new information technology systems and procedures. Transition project goals include:

  1. Establish a five-year re-investigation requirement for all personnel with security clearances, regardless of the level of access,
  2. Reduce the number of personnel with active security clearances by 17 percent
  3. Introduce programs to continuously evaluate personnel with security clearances to determine whether ongoing security clearances are necessary, and
  4. Develop recommendations to enhance information sharing between State, local, and Federal Law Enforcement agencies regarding background investigations.

The changes were announced jointly on January 22, 2016 by James R. Clapper (the Director of National Intelligence), Beth Cobert (Acting Director of the OPM), Marcel Lettre (Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, Department of Defense), Tony Scott (U.S. Chief Information Officer), and J. Michael Daniel (Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator, National Security Council, The White House).

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