[2][3][4] As of 2017, certain government officials (but not their staff) are granted access to classified information needed to do their jobs without a background check: members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for committee work, federal judges and state supreme court judges for adjudicating cases, and state governors.
Attorneys representing clients in cases with classified materials require a background check, but there is a reduced-scrutiny procedure for time-sensitive access.
[16] Information may be classified under this Order if a classification authority determines its unauthorized release could cause damage to the national defense or foreign relations of the United States.
Information concerning nuclear weapons and fissile material may be classified under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA).
The United States' Executive Order 12968's standards are binding on all of the United States government agencies that handle classified information, but it allows certain agency heads to establish Special Access Programs (SAPs) with additional, but not duplicative, investigative and adjudicative requirements.
The Intelligence Community's Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) control systems are a family of SAPs, and SCI eligibility must be granted prior to accessing any particular control system or compartment (which may require additional investigation or adjudication).
Any additional clearance measures used by SAPs must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget, which has generally limited such measures to polygraphs, exclusion of persons with non-US immediate family members, requiring more frequent reinvestigations, and requiring annual updates to security questionnaires.
Poor financial history is the number-one cause of rejection, and foreign activities and criminal record are also common causes for disqualification.
A Top Secret, or "TS", clearance, is often given as the result of a Single Scope Background Investigation, or SSBI.
In most instances, an individual with Top Secret clearance undergoes an SSBI Period Reinvestigation (SSBI-PR) every five years.
For this reason, security clearances are required for a wide range of jobs, from senior management to janitorial.
According to a 2013 Washington Post article, over 3.6 million Americans had top-secret clearances; almost one-third of them worked for private companies, rather than for the U.S. government.
[34] Due to an overall shortage in security-cleared candidates and a long time frame to obtain the credentials for an uncleared worker, those with clearance are often paid more than their non-cleared equivalent counterparts.
[38] The vetting process for a security clearance is usually undertaken only when someone is hired or transferred into a position that requires access to classified information.
At lower levels, interim clearances may be issued to individuals who are presently under investigation, but who have passed some preliminary, automatic process.
An interim clearance may be denied (although the final clearance may still be granted) for having a large amount of debt,[41] having a foreign spouse, for having admitted to seeing a doctor for a mental health condition, or for having admitted to other items of security concern (such as a criminal record or a history of drug use.).
The long time needed for new appointees to be cleared has been cited as hindering the presidential transition process.
According to NISPOM Chapter 3, newly cleared employees are required to receive an initial security briefing before having access to classified information.
Dual citizenship in itself is not the major problem in obtaining or retaining security clearance in the United States.
[44] This guideline has been followed in administrative rulings by the Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) office of Industrial Security Clearance Review (ISCR), which decides cases involving security clearances for Contractor personnel doing classified work for all DoD components.
[46] A non-US born person working in the United States on an H-1B visa may obtain a special clearance with access to secret information if they are in a critical role of a job that requires authorization.