Implementation of a Two-Phase SSBI-PR at DSS: An Evaluation With Recommendations

Abstract : The Defense Personnel Security Research Center has conducted a series of studies aimed at improving the use of investigative resources. Following research that showed that investigative sources differ substantially in terms of their ability to yield issue relevant information, a new reinvestigation model was developed and tested a two-phase SSBI_PR. In a two-phase periodic reinvestigation, Phase 2 sources (developed and listed references, residence interviews, and residence records) are used only in cases in which Phase 1 sources (all other sources) Yield issue-relevant information. Finding of the initial phasing study and subsequent showed that phasing saves substantial resources with very little loss of derogatory information. In the summer of 2002, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Security and Information Operations), with the support of the Intelligence Community, approved implementation of a phased SSBI-PR for a 1-year test period. In October of FY03, the Defense Security Service (DSS) implemented phasing. This study documents the findings of an evaluation of phasing as implemented by DSS. Similar to findings of previous phasing studies, results of this evaluation show that the most productive sources can be used to identify SSBI-PRs where the least productive sources are most likely to yield derogatory information that it is unnecessary and not cost-effective to use the least productive sources in all SSBI-PRs. Findings of this study suggest that whatever the cost of conducting the 15,668 periodic reinvestigations in FY03 would have been without the implementation of a phased SSBI-PR, in implementing phasing, DSS reduced these resource requirements by approximately 22%.