Current Initiatives


Consultative Support and Assistance

PERSEREC provides direct support and assistance to personnel security policymakers in a number of government agencies. We provide quick response studies and analyses for the DoD HUMINT, Counterintelligence, and Security Directorate (HCI&S) in the Office of the Under Secretary for Intelligence. In addition, we have assigned a senior program manager to work full time on the Joint Security and Suitability Reform Team (JSSRT). She conducts demonstration and evaluation projects and helps assess the validity of proposed research strategies. She also serves on the Performance Measurement and Management Subcommittee of the OMB Performance Accountability Council (PAC). Other PERSEREC program managers also regularly attend and provide research results to the above subcommittee and the PAC Training Subcommittee.

PERESEREC is assisting the Department of Homeland Security to assess the feasibility and value on using Automated Continuing Evaluation System (ACES) to improve their personnel security procedures. This work is being coordinated with new initiatives proposed by the JSSRT. Additionally, we are working actively with the Intelligence Community to help them (1) efficiently and effectively gather and analyze data to meet the financial disclosure requirements of Executive Order 12968, and (2) evaluate the potential of developing a personnel security risk factor using data from the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP) for use in psychological screening.

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Automated Continuing Evaluation System (ACES)

ACES was developed by PERSEREC over a period of several years as an automated approach to assessing eligibility for access to classified information in between an initial background investigation and a periodic reinvestigation (PR) or, during the career of a cleared employee, in between PRs. As this program has developed, however, its potential for streamlining the expensive and time-consuming clearance process is becoming apparent. With regard to response to the insider threat, when fully operational, ACES will offer to the DoD earlier detection and intervention and an increased range of issues for determining vulnerabilities. Human resources will be required only when issues of concern are discovered.

The system, as it currently stands, can query over 40 different government and commercial database records to identify cleared personnel who appear to be engaging in behaviors of security concern that may indicate personal vulnerability (e.g., substance abuse, criminal behavior, mental or emotional conditions, or financial problems) or possibly espionage-related activities (e.g., unexplained affluence). Additional databases are currently being added or evaluated for their productivity of security-relevant information.

ACES utilizes sources of information pertaining to the 13 Adjudicative Guidelines for determining eligibility for access to classified information. In 2008 the ACES system was used to demonstrate the productivity of an Automated Record Check (ARC)-enabled case flagging strategy. This research supported subsequent revision of the federal investigative standards to authorize and require ARC-enabled expandable focused investigations. The ACES system is currently being leveraged to achieve ARC initial operating capability in late 2009. The system is also providing data feeds required for pilot testing and evaluation of the Financial Disclosure Analysis System.

Possible uses in the future for ACES include (1) the triggering of expanded investigations when it detects new issues, (2) record checks to support initial investigations and continuous evaluations, and (3) its use in concert with other systems to trigger counterintelligence (CI) investigations when issues of CI concern are detected. We anticipate that ACES will be a major component of future plans to restructure and automate the DoD personnel security system in response to National Intelligence Reform Act mandates and for bringing the clearance process into line with risk-management principles.

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Professional Development

PERSEREC has an active role in promoting the professional development and certification of DoD security practitioners. We are nearing completion of a professional certification program for DoD personnel security adjudicators after developing detailed skill standards and knowledge and competency testing instruments for that critical specialty. This program will offer a standard professional certification to all DoD career adjudicators through successful completion of training, a period of time on the job, and comprehensive testing. In the year following program implementation, a second credential will be offered for more senior personnel who also have supervisory and management competencies.

In support of U.S. governmentwide efforts to reform the suitability and security clearance process, PERSEREC is actively involved with DoD and federal agency councils and working groups to identify skill standards, and workforce and training requirements for personnel security specialists, investigators, and adjudicators who will implement and manage the transformed process. These groups include the Proficiency and Accountability Training Subcommittee, the Defense Security Training Council, the Defense Security Training Council, and the DoD Future Adjudicator Workforce Team. One short-term objective is to develop distance learning programs for national security adjudicators and for adjudicators who are responsible for suitability determinations and HSPD-12 credentialing.

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Adjudication Decision Support (ADS)

The Adjudication Decision Support (ADS) initiative explores the use of computer automation to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of determining eligibility for access to classified information (the granting of security clearances). The security clearance process involves two main steps: investigation and adjudication. First, personnel security investigators collect information about an individual’s personal history as it relates to loyalty, trustworthiness, and reliability. This background information serves as the basis for determining clearance eligibility. Adjudication is the process of reviewing this information and rendering a decision. Research results suggest that an ADS system can reliably process the electronic results of personnel security investigations, i.e., "e-Adjudicate" the information and, consequently, eliminate the need for human adjudicative review ("h-Adjudication") of investigations that contain acceptably minor adverse information.

An automated ADS system greatly shortens case processing times for the cleanest cases, facilitates the initial review of complex cases by adjudicators, reduces the workload for adjudicators, increases adjudication consistency, and facilitates the assignment of complex cases to adjudicators with relevant expertise. This automated clean-case screening system makes use of information on policy, criteria comparable to those of expert adjudicators, and empirical research to reach determinations that accord with the Federal standards outlined in the Adjudicative Guidelines for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified Information. In addition, the system reliably detects and documents adverse information of security concern to maintain the integrity of the process.

The ADS system processes investigative information typically gathered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for the DoD and is expected to be integrated with other automated record checks available through the Automated Continuing Evaluation System (ACES). The ADS decision rules and technology were thoroughly tested to ensure that cases can be approved without increasing risks to national security. Approximately 30% of SECRET-level clearances for DoD organizations using ADS electronic adjudication (eAdjudication) are automatically approved. ADS is currently saving the government, industry and taxpayers millions of dollars, and substantially expediting the process of clearance applications and renewals. In coordination with a governmentwide Joint Suitability and Security Reform effort, ADS eAdjudication (implemented in DoD in February 2009) is being expanded to include other agencies. Eventually, over 50% of all personnel security investigations may eventually be eligible for expedited approval by an ADS system.

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Investigation & Adjudication Quality

PERSEREC is conducting an ongoing review and examination of the quality of personnel security investigations (PSIs) received by DoD central adjudication facilities (CAF) as well as a review and examination of the quality of adjudication decisions made by DoD adjudicators. Quality review helps promote standardization and contributes to goals specified in Executive Order 13467. In addition, PERSEREC’s quality review program also helps to address the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendation for additional quality metrics and can contribute to the removal of DoD’s personnel security clearance program from GAO’s list of “High Risk” program areas. The projects also provide a method for empirically demonstrating quality-related strengths and problems, and bringing them to the attention of stakeholder groups such as Office of Personnel Management (OPM), DoD adjudication facility representatives, and the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for HUMINT, Counterintelligence and Security (DUSD (HCI&S)). PERSEREC quality initiatives recently implemented by DoD include the online "Rapid Assessment of Incomplete Security Evaluations" (RAISE) for monitoring investigation quality, and the "Review of Adjudication Documentation Accuracy and Rationales" (RADAR) for monitoring adjudication documentation quality.retary of Defense for HUMINT, Counterintelligence and Security (DUSD (HCI&S)).

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Metrics for the DoD Personnel Security Program

PERSEREC has been developing performance measures and gathering baseline performance data for the DoD Personnel Security Program. The performance measures address DoD's interest in program performance and are expected to help meet governmentwide requirements for security and suitability reform efforts as governed by the Performance Accountability Council (PAC).

Performance measures have been developed to address each of the primary personnel security program stages: questionnaire submission, investigation, and adjudication. For each of these stages, the research further targets three types of personnel security cases: (1) Secret cases, (2) Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) - Initial cases, and (3) Top Secret/SCI - Periodic Reinvestigation cases.

Important project outcomes include the performance measures that were developed to assess three important categories of program performance: cost, quality, and timeliness. Those efforts demonstrated that the measures could be used to gather useful performance data. PERSEREC will continue to gather these data on an annual basis. The data will allow DoD to assess trends in program performance and determine whether major changes in DoD Personnel Security Programs are resulting in improved cost, quality, and timeliness.

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Espionage: History, Motivations of Spies, Case Examples of American Spies

In addition to the August 2009 report Espionage and Other Compromises of National Security – Case Summaries from 1975 to 2008, three technical reports on espionage have been published based on the PERSEREC espionage database, the most recent in March 2008. The focus of this March 2008 report is on changes and trends in espionage by Americans since 1990, compared with two earlier periods during the Cold War.

Individuals are studied in three groups based on when they began espionage activities: between 1947 and 1979, between 1980 and 1989, and between 1990 and 2007. Findings include: offenders since 1990 were more likely to be naturalized citizens, and to have foreign attachments, connections, and ties than in earlier periods. They were more likely to demonstrate these ties by being motivated to spy from divided loyalties. Twice as many American espionage offenders since 1990 have been civilians than have been members of the military, fewer held Top Secret while more held Secret access, and 37% had no access to classified information themselves. Two-thirds of American spies volunteered since 1990. The number of persons sending information to Russia plummeted since 1990, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, while increasing numbers have sent information to Asian and Latin American nations. The percentage who received no payment for espionage has increased to 80% since 1990, while recent spies are more likely than in earlier periods to be sent to prison. Substance abuse has declined among American spies since 1990. Among financial motives, debt remained the most common for financial espionage; motives held by one-third of individuals included debt. These and additional findings from this research offer insight into the trends in espionage by Americans, and suggestions for appropriate ways to focus counter-espionage efforts.

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