The Defense Department’s security clearance agency officially has a new name. The Defense Security Service and National Background Investigation have merged to create the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.
An executive order signed in April made it official, and set two major timelines. It gave DoD and OPM until June 2019 to finalize the details, and made the transfer official in October 2019.
DoD Leadership will oversee DCSA and the transfer of all security clearance casework from OPM to DoD.
According to DoD officials, moving nearly all of the pieces needed to investigate and adjudicate a security clearance under one roof will shorten the process.
Once initiated, all of the elements of the investigative system —from submission to investigation to adjudication to record keeping — will all be under a single agency for 95% of the entire number of cases in the government.
A budget for the DCSA is authorized from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2021 to increase civilian manpower, acquire facility space, and enter contractual agreements.
NBIB had already reduced the security clearance backlog by more than half during the past year, through business process improvements, new technology and more personnel. Now the new DCSA hopes it can do even more to streamline and speed up the security clearance process for new applicants.
