List of U.S. security clearance terms

Description

A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, i.e., state secrets, or to restricted areas after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal...

levels are used as part of a method to control access to information that should not be freely available to all personnel.

Due to the nature of security classifications and clearances, often people incorrectly identify their clearances by a combination of actual clearance level, additional access control

Access control

Access control refers to exerting control over who can interact with a resource. Often but not always, this involves an authority, who does the controlling. The resource can be a given building, group of buildings, or computer-based information system...

re-org intros, caveats, and the organization who granted them clearance. In addition, different organizations within the Federal government use different terminology and lettering, as is discussed below.

Use

Security clearance

levels often appear in employment postings for Defense related jobs. Employers generally prefer to hire people who are already cleared to access classified information

Classified information in the United States

The United States government classification system is currently established under Executive Order 13526, the latest in a long series of executive orders on the topic. Issued by President Barack Obama in 2009, Executive Order 13526 replaced earlier executive orders on the topic and modified the...

at the level needed for a particular job or contract, because security clearances can usually take up to a year to obtain. In general, most employers look for candidates that hold an active Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

(DoD) collateral clearance or a blanket TS/SCI-cleared (Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmentalized Information) individual that has successfully completed a counterintelligence (CI) or full-scope polygraph (FSP).

Security levels

Security clearances can be issued by many United States government agencies, including the Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

(DoD), the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy

United States Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...

(DoE), the Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

, and the Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

. DoE clearances include the 'L'
L clearance
An L clearance is a security clearance used by the United States Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission for civilian access relating to nuclear materials and information under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. It is equivalent to a United States Department of Defense Secret...

and 'Q'
Q clearance
Q clearance is a United States Department of Energy security clearance equivalent to a United States Department of Defense Top Secret clearance and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information . DOE clearances apply for access specifically relating to atomic or nuclear related materials...

levels. DoD issues more than 80% of all clearances. There are three levels of DoD security clearances:

Confidential
Secret
Top Secret

Information "above Top Secret" is called either Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (SCI) or Special Access Program

Special access program

Special access programs in the Federal Government of the United States of America are security protocols that provides highly classified information with safeguards and access restrictions that exceed those for regular classified information...

(SAP). It is not truly "above" Top Secret, although that phrase is often used by those in the news and entertainment media. SCI information may be either Secret or Top Secret, but in either case it has additional controls on dissemination beyond those associated with the classification level alone. In order to gain SCI Access, you will need to have a SSBI Investigation. Compartments of information are identified by code word

Code name

A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...

s. This is one means by which the "need to know" principle is formally and automatically enforced. Only persons with access to a given compartment of information are permitted to see information within that compartment, regardless of the person's security clearance level. As long as the holder of a clearance is sponsored, the clearance remains active. If the holder loses sponsorship, the holder is eligible for re-employment with the same clearance for up to 24 months without reinvestigation, after which an update investigation is required.

A Periodic Reinvestigation is typically required every 5 years for Top Secret and 10 years for Secret/Confidential, depending upon the agency. Access to a compartment of information lasts only as long as the person's need to have access to the particular category of information.

NOTE: Unclassified (U) is a valid security description, especially when indicating unclassified information within a document classified at a higher level. For example, the title of a Secret report is often unclassified, and must be marked as such. Material that is classified as Unclassified // For Official Use Only (U//FOUO) is considered between Unclassified and Confidential and may deal with employee data.

For access to information at a particular classification level, individuals must have been granted access by the sponsoring government organization at that or a higher classification level, and have a need-to-know

Need to know

The term "need to know", when used by government and other organizations , describes the restriction of data which is considered very sensitive...

the information. The government also supports access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) and Special access program

Special access program

s (SAPs) in which access is determined by need-to-know. These accesses require increased investigative requirements before access is granted.

Investigations

The following investigations are used in clearance determinations:

ANACI (Initial Confidential, Secret, L, LX; only used for civilian employees)
NACLC (Initial Confidential, Secret, L, LX; reinvestigations)
MBI
MBI
MBI may be:*Management buy-in The purchase of a large interest in a company by an investor group while retaining the existing management. *Maslach Burnout Inventory, a scale for Burnout syndrome*Master of Business Informatics*Moody Bible Institute...

(A suitability investigation that includes an ANACI)
SSBI (Initial Top Secret, SCI, Q, QX)
SBPR (SSBI Periodic Reinvestigation)
PPR
PPR
PPR may refer to:* Pipe Penetrating Radar, Ground Penetrating Radar performed from inside buried pipe and conduit infrastructure* PPR , a French luxury goods and retail distribution company...

(SSBI Phased Periodic Reinvestigation)
PRS
PRS
- Computers and telecommunication :* Procedural Reasoning System, an architecture for developing intelligent agents* Premium Rate Service, internationally available telephone-based premium services....

(Periodic Reinvestigation-Secret)

Many other investigative products have been used to grant clearances in the past. While some of them are still used to determine suitability for employment or enlistment, only the above are used to grant clearances.

Additional investigation or adjudication

Certain accesses require one to undertake one or more polygraphs:

Polygraph
Polygraph
A polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...

- Counterintelligence Scope (CI, CI Poly)
Polygraph - Full Scope / Lifestyle (FSP, FS, LS, Lifestyle Poly)

SCI eligibility

Sensitive compartmented information (SCI) is a type of classified information controlled through formal systems established by the Director of National Intelligence. To access SCI, one must first have a favorable SSBI and be granted SCI eligibility. Because the SSBI is also used to grant collateral top secret eligibility, two are often granted together and written TS/SCI. Access to individual SCI control systems, compartments, and subcompartments may then be granted by the owner of that information. Note that additional investigation or adjudication may be required.

In general, employees do not publish the individual compartments for which they are cleared. While this information is not classified, specific compartment listings may reveal sensitive information when correlated with an individual's resume. Therefore, it is sufficient to declare that a candidate possesses a TS/SCI clearance with a polygraph.

External links

Aligning OPM Investigative Levels With Reform Concepts (memorandum), 24 August 2010
DOE M 470.4-5, Personnel Security, 2005
"Security Clearance Frequently Asked Questions" - www.clearancejobs.com
"Security Clearance Process for State and Local Law Enforcement" - www.fbi.gov
"The Industrial Personnel Security Clearance Process Frequently Asked Questions" - www.dss.mil
"What is a security clearance?" - www.army.com
"Safeguarding Sensitive But Unclassified Information" - www.fas.org
The U.S. intelligence community - By Jeffrey Richelson http://books.google.com
"Example of full scope polygraph job descriptions" - www.fullscopepoly.com

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.