The US government requires intense background checks for federal employees with access to classified information. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) conducts most checks, while the Department of Defense and FBI perform others. The checks involve personal questionnaires, fingerprinting, interviews with acquaintances and employers, and credit reports. The length of the investigation depends on the number of contacts outside the US and difficulty contacting people on the questionnaire. Adjudication officers evaluate the information and make recommendations.
When American citizens choose to work for the federal government in positions that require access to classified information, they are required to undergo an intense government background check. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is responsible for conducting most background checks for most federal agencies and their contractors. An executive order signed by President Eisenhower in 1953 gave OPM and other agencies the authority to regulate the safety of federal personnel through the use of background investigations. Government background checks that are not performed by OPM are usually conducted by the Department of Defense or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The agency that performs the government background check has top priority to make sure that the applicant is reliable, trustworthy, and loyal to the United States. The extent to which they investigate a candidate depends on the position they are applying for. Positions that require the most access to classified information, and which give an employee the opportunity to do the most individual harm, require the most extensive background checks.
A government background check is considered the most thorough of background investigations, so it is considered very intrusive by many people. The first step of a government background check requires an applicant to fill out a security questionnaire that contains highly personal questions. Additionally, applicants must be fingerprinted, so that their fingerprints can be entered into FBI computers and confirm that they are not criminals.
Next, interviewers who work for any agency that performs government background checks find and identify individuals listed on the security questionnaire and others who may not be, so they can get an unbiased account of a candidate’s character. They will conduct interviews with friends, family, acquaintances, current employers, previous employers, and anyone they can find to give them personal information about a candidate.
Also, a credit report will be run to make sure there are no major credit issues with an applicant. Most government background checks take at least 30 days, and many of them 90 days or more. The length of the investigation depends on how many contacts an applicant has outside the United States and how difficult an interviewer is having contacting people on an applicant’s security questionnaire. After pertinent information has been gathered about an applicant, adjudication officers at the agency requesting the investigation will evaluate the information and communicate their recommendation to the appropriate personnel or the security bureau.
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