Performance.gov disclosed yesterday that it updated its Security Clearance, Suitability/Fitness, and Credentialing (SSC) Reform CAP Goal Action Plan. The action plan, currently in progress aims to protect government information and establish a secure work environment at a Federal level..
Through the action plan, so far, the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB) has been able to reduce the background investigation backlog by 18 percent from June to December. Reductions are expected to continue through a process of approved measures. On November 9th, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was also able to mandate government-wide reciprocity of background investigations. Both measures expect to improve mission readiness for identifying security risks.
Major strategies of the reform are to develop consistent policy for reporting potential security risks, build a trusted workforce, establish a data-driven and transparent policy-making process, assist agencies in adopting modern technology, and develop a Research and Innovation program to inform policy, process and technology with data-driven decisions.
The SSC CAP goal is working toward an overall modernization of policies and processes on matters of security. It is working on expanding risk reporting requirements for the entire workforce to address concerns of unreported risks. The action plan is on goal to refine guidelines under the new Federal vetting approach.
From a technology standpoint, the SSC goal wants to develop a modern, secure and mission-capable, end-to-end digital environment that promotes information sharing and collaboration across agencies. It’s on track to implement a shared unclassified record repository to store background investigation history by October 2019, as well as implementing a shared service to provide unclassified information exchanges for efficient data access by the same time.
However, when it comes to modernizing Federal credentials capabilities, the SSC is falling behind and has missed its due date. Establishing requirements for Trusted Information Providers to provide shared data with Investigative Service Providers has also missed its milestone due date.
