DS in the news: Media articles: Front Page story in the Washington Times: http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060918-123314-2094r.htm http://wpherald.com/articles/1346/1/Security-clearances-snag-US-diplomats/Request-for-hardship-post-on-hold.html Article in GovExec on the OIG report and appeals delays: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1006/102306j1.htm NPR piece on lengthy investigations/fishing expeditions: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4801419 Washington Post article on lengthy investigations: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081301050_pf.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081301050.html?nav=rss_politics/fedpage On NSA whistleblowers (share similarities with some State Department cases): http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=%5CSpecialReports%5Carchive%5C200601%5CSPE20060126a.html CFSO Cases Described in Other Public Documents: Congress has noticed our cases. Here two members of Concerned Foreign Service Officers are profiled in a document on security clearances:  http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20051109140634-45343.pdf http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20051109170542-68021.doc   Scroll Down to Resources!   Concerned Foreign Service Officers members in the News: The opacity and lack of accountability in DS allows and even rewards bias in the conduct of security clearance investigations. One example:   http://www.nysun.com/article/33880 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3259690,00.html Front Page story in the Washington Times: http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060918-123314-2094r.htm Let the reader decide: is the subject of this article in a widely-read international news magazine hiding his sexual orientation? Or does nobody in DS ever read the Economist?   http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_GJVVDTQ The Dissent Channel does not work. The State Department has an official channel for dissent, but fewer and fewer FSOs are using it for fear of retaliation. AFSA's Vice President on the Dissent Channel, rarely used these days due to fear of reprisal:  http://www.afsa.org/fsj/dec05/KashkettArticleDec2005.pdf Brady Kiesling - A member of Concerned Foreign Service Officers, Brady Keisling resigned from the Foreign Service in protest to the administration's Iraq policy. Earlier experience with the Dissent Channel had convinced him that dissent through this channel would not be heard.  http://bradykiesling.com/ Ann Wright - Concerned Foreign Service Officer, on dissent: http://www.afsa.org/fsj/sept03/wright.pdf The First Amendment Foundation is a Concerned Foreign Service Officers partner and a resource to dissenters: http://www.firstamend.org/     A new blog by CFSO Members: http://deadmenworking.blogspot.com/ Resources American Foreign Service Association The official professional association of the Foreign Service. AFSA's attorneys represent numerous Foreign Service clients in security clearance and other matters. http://www.afsa.org/ AFSA's open-letter "Wish List" to Department of State management lists a number of our issues, including growing concern over the role of DS as "investigator, prosecutor, judge and jury," and the fact that the DS contact policy has not been updated in 19 years, and is still based on cold-war era criteria that no longer reflect any reality. See page 7 of 13. http://www.afsa.org/fsj/sep06/afsanews.pdf AFSA's Vice President Steve Kashkett has more to say on the contact policy (see page 3 of 13):  http://www.afsa.org/fsj/nov06/afsanews.pdf Good advice on reporting relationships. A year later, DS has still not clarified the regulations. http://www.afsa.org/020205afsanet.cfm Rather than correct the problems in DS, the State Department simply wants to stop paying FSOs who come under investigation, effectively enabling the State Department to fire FSOs, based on any unsubstantiated allegation, without any due process. If AFSA had not won this one, at least 70 FSOs would have already lost their jobs this way: http://www.afsa.org/congress/amend309.cfm Foreign Service Journal (FSJ) Articles The Foreign Service Journal is published by AFSA and is widely recognized as a primary and unbiased forum for public expression by American Foreign Service professionals. Articles include: A private attorney describes the security clearance review process: http://www.afsa.org/fsj/sept05/hannon.pdf Two first person accounts by members of Concerned Foreign Service Officers: http://www.afsa.org/fsj/sept05/honley2.pdf Two letters - one describes first person experience with investigative abuse by a DS agent, another conveys the concern of a retired ambassador with a quarter century of service in the Foreign Service.  http://www.afsa.org/fsj/nov05/letters.pdf Foreign Affairs Manual References 12 FAM 221.7 - In theory, this guarantees a fair investigation - in practice, it is usually ignored.  http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/12fam/12m0220.pdf The latest published guidelines. Note that no interpretive standards have been published to interpret these guidelines in the State Department context: http://www.state.gov/m/ds/clearances/60321.htm Earlier guidelines: http://www.state.gov/m/ds/clearances/26912.htm General Information on security clearance requirements and responsibilities. Note 12 FAM 232.3-3(b) -   DS should not determine suitability. This is an HR responsibility. http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/12fam/12m0230.pdf State Department polygraph policy: http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/12fam/12m0250.pdf 3 FAM 629 is 17 years out of date. DS interprets it according to unpublished "changes" known only to them. http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/03fam/03mb4100.pdf 12 FAM 262 According to the GAO, most RSOs fail to perform their duties under 12 FAM 262.3-1. But you are responsible for complying with 12 FAM 262.3-2, whether you have been told about it or not. http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/12fam/12m0260.pdf 12 FAM 230  -  DS has been quietly making changes to the FAM, changing a few key words to tighten their control and shift responsibility away from HR. Although FAM changes are normally vetted through several bureaus, DS has routinely avoided this practice, claiming that "national security concerns" oblige them to bypass the normal clearance process: http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/12fam/12fam0230.pdf E.O. 12958 and 12968, the rules for classification and access: E.O. 12968: http://www.dss.mil/seclib/eo12968.htm and http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo12968.htm E.O. 12958: http://www.dss.mil/seclib/eo12958.htm http://www.archives.gov/isoo/policy-documents/eo-12958-amendment.html Amendment of March 2003: http://www.fas.org/sgp/bush/eoamend.html http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030325-11.html The Merit Systems Protection Board hears Whistle Blower and other cases: http://www.mspb.gov/ DSS Adjudicative Desk Reference: The "bible" of security clearance adjudication.  http://www.smdc.army.mil/ADR/index.htm Threat awareness programs: http://www.dss.mil/training/tr98001.pdf Espionage cases. These are the ones that slip by while DS is chasing after phantoms: http://www.dss.mil/training/espionage/ PRIVACY ACT: The following links may be useful to help you file a PA request: http://foia.state.gov/issuances/priviss.asp   National Security Whistle Blowers Coalition: Representing whistle blowers from the security and Foreign Affairs agencies.  http://www.nswbc.org/ CFSOs congratulates NSWBC on receiving the 2006 PEN First Amendment Award. Did you know that improper revocation of a security clearance is the number one method of retaliation against government whistleblowers, and that it is not prevented by current legislation? NSWBC supports a new bill by Senator Lautenberg, and so do we.  http://nswbc.org/Reports%20-%20Documents/WESTPAct%20One-Page%20Summary.htm A companion bill in the House, by Representatives Markey and Maloney: http://www.nswbc.org/Press%20Releases/Press%20Release-March%209.htm A bipartisan bill introduced by Davis and Waxman: http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20060406163205-10801.pdf And one by Senator Collins that we don't support:  http://whistleblowers.org/dearsenatorsrevised.pdf This bill exempts Intelligence & Law enforcement agencies from Whistleblower protections, legitimizes retaliation against any government employee who blows a whistle to congress and is basically a sham launched for political reasons.******** CFSOs supports NSWBC member Russ Tice, whose efforts to inform Congress without compromising classified information have most recently "earned" him a subpoena, a shameful abuse of executive power apparently intended to intimidate him into silence: http://nswbc.org/Press%20Releases/PR-TiceSubpoena-July28-06.htm Cleared Community is an online resource for news and information related to security clearances. ClearedCommunity.com is also home to the Web's only interactive forum dedicated solely to discussion of security clearance issues: http://www.clearedcommunity.com/ A 2006 FBI OIG report confirms that between FY 2003 and 2005 FBI polygraphs did not meet Federal standards due to improperly phrased questions, biased interpretation and improper destruction of polygraph records.  Read the CQ article, then read the OIG report: http://www.cq.com/public/20060919_homeland.html See Executive Summary page xiii (middle of the page): http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/plus/e0608/final.pdf Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Glynco Georgia list of courses. Good training for criminal investigators - but no training in the kind of unbiased data collection required for a security clearance evaluation, and nothing that can substitute for experience or specialized, agency specific training:   http://www.fletc.gov/training/programs/  Statement of former Attorney General Janet Reno: "Law enforcement experts indicate that it is very risky to allow an agency's overall ratio of inexperienced to experienced agents to exceed 30 percent. When it does, the agency will find it difficult to maintain performance, professionalism and integrity." No kidding! http://www.usdoj.gov/archive/ag/testimony/1999/agappro030999.htm OPM - Almost all civilian security clearances are adjudicated by OPM, and unlike DS they are professional about it. Their investigators are specialists in background investigations, and their adjudicators are subject to senior oversight.  Among other things, they offer a web page to share information with other adjudicators. A lot of useful info here:   http://www.opm.gov/extra/investigate/index.asp   One favorite trick of DS, stupid though it may seem (especially for a bureau of the State Department), is to pretend that a person of a given ethnicity is unknowingly a citizen of another country. Here is a list of citizenship laws of other countries, to help you protect yourself:  http://www.opm.gov/extra/investigate/IS-01.pdf   Project on Government Oversight (POGO) Nonprofit committed to exposing waste, fraud and mismanagement in Government. www.pogo.org POGO report on National Security Whistle Blower issues: http://www.pogo.org/m/gp/gp-crs-nsw-12302005.pdf References: GAO: On the process in the State Department, Defense Department and Department of Energy: http://archive.gao.gov/d32t10/146801.pdf Due process for unfavorable adjudications: http://archive.gao.gov/d24t8/141422.pdf 1995 GAO study on Sexual Orientation and Clearances. Another area in which DS is getting worse rather than better: http://www.fas.org/irp/gao/nsi95021.htm OIG: OIG's whitewash on DS/PSS was conducted in a manner guaranteed to fail to find anything wrong. Read the report here, with special attention to the objectives, scope and methodology:   http://oig.state.gov/documents/organization/75635.pdf   FOIA released Extracts from State Department OIG reports on the Security Infrastructure section of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security indicate that 69 percent of investigative files do not meet federal standards. See page 6: http://oig.state.gov/documents/organization/42023.pdf See page 36: http://oig.state.gov/documents/organization/47382.pdf Link to released portion of 2006 inspection report on M/MED. CFSOs has often said M/MED does not comply with HIPPAA and Privact regulations. OIG confirms: http://oig.state.gov/documents/organization/68961.pdf The Federation of American Scientists has a large collection of resource materials related to security clearances and security clearance abuse. Reporting of Foreign Contacts (PDD-NSC-12) http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/pdd12.htm http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/500/pdd-nsc-12.pdf A list of relevant standards/references/sources of more information:  http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/inventory.html A list of National Security Directives (standards) http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsd/index.html The latest government-wide guidelines:  http://www.fas.org/sgp/isoo/guidelines.html Standards for single scope investigations http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsd/nsd_63.htm The DoD adjudication and appeal process is infinitely more fair and transparent than the State process: http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/dod/dodig1203.pdf