https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2019/10/pentagon-has-officially-taken-over-security-clearance-process/160315/
By Jack Corrigan
Staff Correspondent
NextGov
October 2, 2019
The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday handed off its National
Background Investigations Bureau to the Defense Department, leaving the
Pentagon in charge of conducting the vast majority of government’s security
clearance investigations.
At midnight, NBIB officially ceased to exist, and its operations and more than
2,900 employees were subsumed by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security
Agency. The agency, formerly known as the Defense Security Service, is now
charged with adjudicating roughly 95% of the background investigations for the
federal government.
DCSA also will be responsible for ensuring the Pentagon and its contractors
don’t allow compromised technology to enter their IT ecosystems. Federal
officials have grown increasingly wary of efforts by China and other
adversaries to infiltrate the government through its IT supply chain, though
even when threats arise, the Pentagon has historically been slow to act.
”This merger advances national defense strategy objectives to enhance our
security environment and maintain lethality by protecting critical defense
information from theft or disclosure,” Joseph Kernan, undersecretary of defense
for intelligence, said in a statement.
[...]
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