A little background history is in order pertaining to the security clearance background investigations field before we get started. Currently, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) conducts approximately 95% of all federal background investigations for security clearances. However, before the DCSA, it was the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)-National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB). Prior to OPM-NBIB, it was the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)-Federal Investigative Services Division (FISD). Before both incarnations at OPM, it was the Defense Security Service (DSS). And finally, before DSS, it was the Defense Investigative Service (DIS).
Approximately 25% of the investigator workforce at DCSA is made up of actual federal employees; the other 75% is made up of investigators from contractor companies called Investigative Service Providers (ISPs). The current ISPs to DCSA are commonly referred to as “Contract Investigators.” In earlier times, the biggest ISP of them all was USIS (United States Investigations Services); by now, we all know what happened to them…different story for another day!
Top Ten True Tales from The Investigation Street
Try not to roll your eyes too much or laugh too hard at these “true tales from the street” from a former DSS and OPM-FISD Special Agent/Investigator.
- One former federal investigator was forced to resign after it was found out that he/she had plucked random names out of the telephone book and wrote up the “interviews” in his/her official ROI (Report of Investigation). This is called “ghostwriting.” Ghostwriting is basically fabricating sources of information and writing it up in the ROI.
- One contract investigator “ran through” the personal Subject Interview (SI) of the clearance applicant in record time. As the investigator was leaving and walking to his/her car, the applicant mentioned that one of his/her neighbors was a FISD investigator at OPM. The contract investigator returned to the applicant’s house for an hour’s worth of additional questioning!
- One federal agent was reprimanded for losing his/her badge & credentials at a Major League Baseball game.
- One federal investigator was reprimanded for using his/her government issued cell phone while he/she partied all weekend. Not too many investigators use their government cell at 2:00am and 3:00am on Saturday & Sundays to conduct “official reference interviews.”
- One federal investigator was suspended for driving his/her government vehicle to church every Sunday.
- Another federal investigator in his/her government issued vehicle pulled over a motorist on the road because the motorist threw a bag of trash out of the window. The investigator flashed his/her badge and made the motorist go back and pick it up. The investigator laughed as he/she regaled his/her fellow investigators with the story. The investigator’s behavior was never found out by management.
- One federal investigator’s interviews were so quick, he/she would leave the government car running with the air conditioner still on while he/she interviewed the neighbor on the doorstep.
- One particular group of federal investigators (both male and female), while on a temporary work assignment in California, attended the porn industry’s annual convention in Los Angeles. Give ‘em break. They were off-duty. Some of those in attendance are now in management.
- One federal investigator took “unofficial breaks” during the day to pick up and shuttle around his/her kids from school to practices in his/her official government vehicle.
- One federal investigator flashed his/her badge at a major college football game and bypassed hundreds of people waiting in line for entrance to the game. They thought he/she was part of the event security staff.
Bonus Round
- One contract investigator showed up at a company to work a case. He was asked by security for his identification. The contract investigator pulled out 4 different badges! The contract investigator responded, “Which one do you want?”
- One contract investigator actually conducted a periodic re-investigation personal subject interview of an OPM-FISD supervisory agent/investigator. The personal interview lasted 20 minutes. That’s right, 20 minutes. I don’t care who you are, nobody’s background is that “clean” that their personal interview only takes 20 minutes!
The above-mentioned “true tales” are the exception, not the rule here, with regard to security clearance background investigators. Most security clearance background investigators are good and solid professionals who take their job seriously. They all go through their own background investigations (SSBIs) and receive Top Secret eligibilities. However, just like in all occupational fields, there are always a “few bad apples in the bunch.”
