Title 50, War and National DefenseRelease 119-110

§3351 Improving Quality of Information in Background Investigation Request Packages

Title 50 › CHAPTER 45 — MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AUTHORITIES › SUBCHAPTER III — SECURITY CLEARANCES AND CLASSIFIED INFORMATION › § 3351

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency must, within 180 days after December 20, 2019, and working with the Security, Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability Council, send Congress a report that: sets out ways to measure how complete and accurate background‑investigation request packages are; shows, by agency, how often packages are returned or rejected for missing or wrong information; and lists best practices to make sure requests have all required information. By 270 days after December 20, 2019, and at least once each year after that, the Council must report to Congress on how agencies are doing against those measures and return rates. Within one year after December 20, 2019, the executive agents named in Executive Order 13467 must identify agencies that need to improve their submission quality. When an agency is identified, its head has 90 days to give the executive agents a plan to improve the quality of its background‑investigation requests.

Full Legal Text

Title 50, §3351

War and National Defense, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Report on metrics and best practices
Not later than 180 days after December 20, 2019, the Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, which serves as the primary executive branch service provider for background investigations for eligibility for access to classified information, eligibility to hold a sensitive position, and for suitability and fitness for other matters pursuant to Executive Order 13467 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note; relating to reforming processes related to suitability for Government employment, fitness for contractor employees, and eligibility for access to classified national security information), shall, in consultation with the Security, Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability Council established under such executive order, submit to Congress a report on—
(1)metrics for assessing the completeness and quality of packages for background investigations submitted by agencies requesting background investigations from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency;
(2)rejection rates of background investigation submission packages due to incomplete or erroneous data, by agency; and
(3)best practices for ensuring full and complete information in background investigation requests.
(b)Annual report on performance
Not later than 270 days after December 20, 2019, and not less frequently than once each year thereafter, the Security, Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability Council shall submit to Congress a report on performance against the metrics and return rates identified in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a).
(c)Improvement plans
(1)Identification
Not later than one year after December 20, 2019, executive agents under Executive Order 13467 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note) shall identify agencies in need of improvement with respect to the quality of the information in the background investigation submissions of the agencies as reported in subsection (b).
(2)Plans
Not later than 90 days after an agency is identified under paragraph (1), the head of the agency shall provide the executive agents referred to in such paragraph with a plan to improve the performance of the agency with respect to the quality of the information in the agency’s background investigation submissions.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Executive Order 13467, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (c)(1), is Ex. Ord. No. 13467, June 30, 2008, 73 F.R. 38103, which is set out as a note under section 3161 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

50 U.S.C. § 3351

Title 50, War and National Defense

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110