Alliances are a critical part of the U.S. intelligence community. The complexity of those relationships has been highlighted in several recent news cycles. And the work going on in Japan today to create an industrial security program for industry highlights why having a security clearance process matters. When you don’t, international partners are less likely to want to share critical information and technology.
The Five Eyes Alliance is a well-known intelligence sharing agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Given the strong alliance and the fact that information is shared, several security clearance holders from countries overseas have asked if their security clearance process grants them reciprocity into the U.S. system – or vice versa, if having a security clearance in the U.S. grants some form of reciprocity with other countries.
The short answer is – no. When we’re talking about reciprocity and transfer of trust within U.S. security clearance policy, it’s specific to the U.S. There is no policy that says a Top Secret security clearance in the UK would give an equivalent clearance in the U.S. And the reality is citizenship is one of the keys to obtaining a security clearance in the U.S. You may have been naturalized in another country, but if you’re not a U.S. citizen, you won’t get a U.S. security clearance.
What about Limited Access Authorizations?
There are instances where foreign nationals may be read into programs or have access to U.S. classified information. Limited Access Authorization (LAA) gives someone – you guessed it – limited access to classified information. But a LAA isn’t the same as a security clearance – and it’s certainly not reciprocal access. Classified documents can also be shared with foreign countries – but those are shared at the document level, and based on the country, and not earmarked for certain generals. The NOFORN classification designation made headlines after several documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence allegedly still bore the mark. What that means is a document is not shareable with foreign countries.
Allies are important. But when it comes to the security clearance process, having a security clearance in another country doesn’t mean you’ll have reciprocity into the U.S. system, or vice versa.
