In November 2023 the new Personnel Vetting Questionnaire (PVQ) was approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The PVQ replaces the Standard Forms 85, 85P, 85P-S, and 86. These Standard Forms (SFs) are used by people applying for federal employment, access to federal facilities and computer systems, Public Trust Positions, and Sensitive National Security Positions. The PVQ doesn’t have a form number yet and won’t be implemented until an online version is developed—which will probably take a few more months.
The approved, final version of the PVQ has four parts (A, B, C, and D), but only Part A has drug questions. Part A must be completed by all applicants. Depending on the type of position eligibility required, some applicants will also have to complete other parts of the form. Each section of Part A has threshold questions. If an applicant answers “yes” to a threshold question, they need to answer follow up questions, called branching questions. Some branching questions have their own follow-up questions. Part A can be downloaded here.
Part A, Section 12 covers all illegal use of drugs, misuse of controlled substances, misuse of prescription drugs, and other drug involvement (excluding marijuana or cannabis derivatives, which is covered in Section 13 of Part A). Section 12 also covers negative impact and counseling/treatment due to drug use. Both Sections 12 and 13 use the term “national security position” to mean a sensitive national security position, whether or not the position requires access to classified national security information. Both sections also mention criminal justice and public safety positions. In this article for the purpose of brevity, national security, criminal justice, and public safety positions are all referred to simply as a “position of trust.”
SECTION 12—Drug Use and Other Involvement (Excluding Marijuana)
Section 12 has 5 threshold questions about drug use and other involvement, which appear in italics below:
Have you used an illegal drug or misused a controlled substance (excluding marijuana or cannabis derivatives) in the past five years or since the age of 16 (if you are under 21)?
Have you intentionally misused drugs prescribed for you or someone else in the past five years or since the age of 16 (if you are under 21)? (“Intentionally” means you deliberately misused prescription drugs as opposed to accidently.)
Have you illegally possessed, purchased, manufactured, cultivated, trafficked, produced, transferred, shipped, received, handled, or sold any drug or controlled substance (excluding marijuana or cannabis derivatives) in the past five years or since the age of 16 (if you are under 21)? (Emphasis added)
If you answer “yes” to any of the 3 threshold questions above, you’re then asked to provide the following information:
- each type of drug or controlled substance used/involved.
- dates of first and last use/involvement (regardless of how long ago the first use/involvement occurred).
- number of times use/involvement occurred.
- circumstances surrounding use/involvement.
- if use/involvement occurred while in a position of trust, specific information about the use/involvement while in a position of trust.
- whether you intend to engage in this type of conduct in future and why you intend or don’t intend to do it.
(Note: It’s unclear whether the branching question about future intent to misuse a prescription drug must be answered by everyone who answers “yes” to the threshold question about prescription drug misuse or only by those who misused prescription drugs while in a position of trust.)
Have you ever used an illegal drug or misused a controlled substance (excluding marijuana or cannabis derivatives) while in a national security position? (Answer “No” if this occurred in the past five years and you listed it above.)
Have you ever used an illegal drug or misused a controlled substance (excluding marijuana or cannabis derivatives) while employed in a criminal justice or public safety position? (“While employed” does not necessarily mean your use was “on the clock” or “on duty”. Answer “No” if this occurred in the past five years and you listed it above.) (Emphasis added)
If you answer “yes” to either of the 2 threshold questions above, you’re then asked to provide the following information:
- each type of drug or controlled substance used or misused while in a position of trust.
- dates of first and last use/misuse while in a position of trust.
- number of times used/misused while in a position of trust.
- circumstances surrounding involvement while in a position of trust.
SECTION 12—Negative Impact And Counseling/Treatment Due to Drug Use
Section 12 has three threshold questions about negative impact and counseling/treatment due to drug use, which appear in italics below:
Has your use of an illegal drug or misuse of a controlled substance (excluding marijuana or cannabis derivatives) or prescription drug negatively impacted your life in the past five years or since the age of 16 (if you are under 21)? (For example, have you experienced poor work or school performance; professional or personal relationship problems; or, financial, legal, or health issues.)
Were you ordered to get counseling or treatment as a result of your illegal use of drugs or controlled substances (excluding marijuana or cannabis derivatives), or your misuse of prescription drugs in the past five years or since the age of 16 (if you are under 21)?
Have you voluntarily been to counseling or treatment as a result of your illegal use of drugs or controlled substances (excluding marijuana or cannabis derivatives), or your misuse of prescription drug in the past five years or since the age of 16 (if you are under 21)? (Emphasis added)
The threshold question regarding negative impact due to drug use is new. This question and its branching questions are similar to the questions on the SF85P and the SF86 regarding negative impacts due to alcohol use.
A “yes” response to either of the threshold questions about voluntary and involuntary drug counseling/treatment results in branching questions that are essentially the same as on the SF85P and SF86.
COMMENTS
There is an anomaly in the drug questions in Sections 12. You must disclose any illegal use or misuse of a drug while in a position of trust, no matter how long ago it occurred. However, if your last illegal involvement with drugs (i.e., possessing, buying, selling, trafficking, etc.) happened more than 5 years ago, you don’t have to disclose it, even if you were in a position of trust at the time. It seems counterintuitive that trafficking illegal drugs 6 years ago while working as a law enforcement officer would not be presumed relevant to the personnel security vetting process, but the one-time use of Ecstasy (MDMA) 20 years ago while employed as a law enforcement officer is presumed relevant.
Section 12 contains a new instruction not present in the SF85, SF85P or SF86—”Report drugs or controlled substances (excluding marijuana or cannabis derivatives) . . . that are illegal under federal law, even if legal under state or foreign (non-U.S.) laws.” This was probably added to align it with paragraph 16(e)(3) under Guideline E—Personal Conduct of the National Security Adjudicative Guidelines, which reads:
while in another country, engaging in any activity that, while legal there, is illegal in the United States
The drug counseling/treatment questions are 5-year questions in Section 12 of the PVQ; whereas, it is a “Have you EVER” question in the SF86, a 7-year question in the SF85P, and a 1-year question on the SF85.
In the SF85 all the threshold questions regarding drugs are only “1-year” questions. Applicants who previously only had to complete the SF85 will now have to answer all the drug questions in Section 12, covering the past 5 years or forever, if the drug use occurred while in a position of trust. Most drug questions that were “7-year” questions in the SF85P and SF86 are now “5-year” questions in the PVQ.
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