Executive Order Designates Officials to Manage Clearance Reforms

The White House has issued a new Executive Order putting into place new officials and entities to better manage security clearance reform.

The Executive Order applies to nearly all persons holding federal security clearances. Exceptions include the President, Vice President, and their staff.

The Executive Order creates a Suitability and Security Clearance Performance Accountability Council charged with managing the implementation of reforms across all security clearance issuing entities. It also designates a Suitability Executive Agent and Security Executive Agent responsible for overseeing certain aspects of reform.

Among the reasons why the Executive Order is important are 1) it may help to standardize the implementation of reforms and new procedures across federal agencies, and 2) it takes into consideration the need to ensure not only speed but also quality of security clearance investigations and the need for accountability in security clearance procedures and determinations.

Secrecy News wrote about the new Executive Order here. So did the Federal Times. Government Executive has a related article here.

Filed Under: Reform, Laws & Regulations, Adjudication, Reference