DOE'S Director of Safeguards and Security develops policies, standards, guides, and procedures to implement the order. DOE's decentralized management structure allows the field office managers flexibility to interpret and implement these orders and regulations. Program implementation is the responsibility of the director at headquarters and of the managers at 8 field offices which oversee the activities of contractors at 27 DoE-owned facilities.
Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information UCNI is a dissemination category for identifying, controlling and limiting the dissemination of unclassified information on the physical protection of special nuclear material, vital equipment and facilities. Formerly Restricted Data FRD is information removed from the Restricted Data category upon a joint determination by the Department of Energy or antecedent agencies and the Department of Defense that such information relates primarily to the military utilization of atomic weapons and that such information can be safeguarded adequately as classified National Security Information in the United States.
For purposes of foreign dissemination, however, such information is treated in the same manner as Restricted Data. Restricted Data is all data concerning design, manufacture or utilization of atomic weapons; the production of special nuclear material, or the use of special nuclear material in the production of energy, but does not include data declassified or removed from the Restricted Data category under Section of Public Law The DOE classification system also encompasses other categories of military information, as well as the dissemination of nuclear-related information to other agencies.
National Security Information NSI is information which requires protection against unauthorized disclosure in the interest of the national security of the United States and which has been determined to be classified in accordance with the provisions of Executive Order or any predecessor or successor order.
Specifically excluded is information concerning arming, fuzing, and firing systems; limited life components; and total contained quantities of fissionable, fusionable, and high explosive materials by type. Among these excluded items are the components which DoD personnel set, maintain, operate, test, or a replace.
Restricted Data RD is one of the most stringently protected categories of classified information. The Atomic Energy Act of states that RD can be declassified if it can be published without undue risk to the common defense and security. FRD is the next most stringently protected classified information. FRD can be declassified when it may be published without constituting an unreasonable risk to the common defense and security. Accepting a less-than-unreasonable risk i.
According to EO , information can be classified as NSI if its disclosure would cause damage to the national security. The damages acceptable before information is classified as NSI are greater than those acceptable from declassification of FRD. For example, the Sigma 1 category covers information concerning the theory of operation or complete design of thermonuclear weapons or their unique components. Information in a Sigma category may be made available only to individuals approved to receive that category of information.
Sigma 1 Theory of operation hydrodynamics and nuclear or complete design of thermonuclear weapons or their unique components. The issue of security clearances comes up for both military members and civilian employees working for the federal government. Clearances are granted in order to allow troops, employees, and contractors access to sensitive information, facilities, or circumstances and are not granted lightly. There are three levels of clearance for federal employees. The U. Department of State official site lists the federal clearances in order from lowest to highest:.
In addition to these clearance levels, some holding Secret or Top Secret security clearances will also be recommended for Special Access Programs SAP , which is a strictly need-to-know, limited access for those who are recommended for SAP. These clearance levels allow employees to have access to classified national security information or other restricted data at the level of clearance and for any clearance level below it, but need to know is always a driving factor in what information or materials a security clearance provides access to.
In other words, just because you have a Secret security clearance level, you are not automatically granted unrestricted access to any classified information at the Secret level. Need to know is a major consideration. Like civilian federal employees, the security clearance granted will be on a level with the need of the job or the mission.
The three security clearance levels military people may be approved to hold are, from lowest to highest:. Yes, these are identical to the civilian employee clearances.
The major difference in getting a military clearance level is that fingerprints and other materials may or may not have already been gathered as part of the military enlistment process — some procedures for military members may be a bit more streamlined than for a brand new federal hire in a civilian position.
In some cases employees without a clearance may be included after undergoing required background checks and other procedures, but this process is up to the hiring agency. Something known as the Interim clearance does not provide a different level of access to classified information, but rather acts as a temporary approval to access the information or facilities permitted by the proposed clearance level the employee or military member is being investigated for.
Interim clearances are not considered routine; the U. However, Controlled Unclassified and Public Trust Position are not considered security clearance levels. Controlled Unclassified Information CUI does not represent a clearance designation, but rather a clearance level at which information distribution is controlled. Controlled Unclassified designates information that may be illegal to distribute. CUI is information that requires safeguarding or dissemination controls pursuant to and consistent with applicable law, regulations, and government-wide policies but is not classified under Executive Order or the Atomic Energy Act, as amended.
First off, you cannot start the process. Once you are in a job that requires a security clearance even if you are simply a hired consultant , a cleared contractor or a government agency will sponsor you. How does the process work then?
In its turn, OPM farms the work of background checks to outside contractors e. The entire clearance process currently lasts anywhere from three months to one year, although the government is trying to shorten the time period.
The first step in your security clearance process will be filling in the lengthy Standard Form 86 , a. You will also be asked to list any criminal records, civil court actions, financial problems, subversive activities, drug involvement, mental health problems, alcohol-related incidents and misuse of IT systems. Following up on the SF86, the government will conduct a background investigation BI , a. It will review and verify your:. Investigators may be sent into the field to check your police records.
You will also undergo a security interview. The wheels of U. Nevertheless, as the writers of Security Clearance FAQs point out, there a few ways to ensure your application does not get held up:.
NOTE: The government has the option to grant candidates an interim security clearance interim eligibility pending the results of a full BI. This can be withdrawn at any time if authorities discover unfavorable information. Investigators do not like to be lied to about alcohol, drugs or criminal records. If you are up-front about your mistakes, your misconduct especially if it occurred a long time ago could be excused. As we noted in the section on Types of Security Clearances , your clearance is reinvestigated after a predetermined number of years: 15 for Confidential, 10 for Secret and 5 for Top Secret.
You will be required to submit an updated security package and the government will conduct another BI. They will use your previous BI as a starting point. Expired clearances are pretty straightforward. If you leave a job that required a security clearance, your clearance will also be terminated. At that point, your clearance may be downgraded to Current. That leaves room for the government to reinstate it at a later date. Some of the fastest-growing jobs are in information security.
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