New DoD Guidelines Clarify Foreign Preference Considerations

McKenna, Long, and Aldridge, a Washington, DC law firm, has posted a synopsis of September 2006 revised Department of Defense Guidelines governing adjudication of security clearances.

It writes that the revisions provide increased guidance on the Guideline’s disqualifying and mitigating conditions for determining security clearance eligibility and, in particular, clarify and soften the criteria for evalutating foreign preference and influence.

Among the law firm’s findings:

• The revised Guidelines follow “a significant increase in the number of negative initial determinations for applicants with foreign backgrounds;”
• Disqualifications due to holding of foreign passports have been eased;
• Disqualifications due to foreign contacts have also been eased;
• DoD adjudicators should consider in their decisions “the identity of the country in which the foreign contact” is located and that country’s reputation for espionage or terrorism.

Filed Under: Reform, Adjudication