Assessing the Potential for Racial Bias in the Security Clearance Process

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Piquado, Tepring

Contributor:

Beaghley, Sina

Beyene, Nahom M.

Colabella, Lisa Pelled

Language:

English

Place of Publication:

RAND Corporation 2022

Summary:

Because security clearances are required for designated national security positions, results of the background investigation and adjudication process can affect an individual's recruitment, hiring, retention, promotion, and ability to pursue a career in the U.S. Department of Defense and in the broader national security community - including government contractors. In this exploratory report, the authors consider the security clearance process through the lens of racial justice. They identify areas where bias might create a barrier for Black Americans seeking positions or career advancement in U.S. departments and agencies with a national security mission. The authors describe societal factors (financial, drug-related, and criminal) and human judgment factors (affinity bias, confirmation bias, and statistical discrimination) as they relate to the security clearance process, and how they may contribute to racial bias. The authors then recommend areas for improvement and further exploration in transparency, training, and awareness of bias. The 2021 version of this report was revised in August 2022 to clarify that although nowhere in the security clearance process are data on race gathered, data on race is collected during the hiring process - a separate and distinct process from the security clearance process. To assess the potential for racial disparities using existing information would require the integration of data from these two processes, which was outside the scope of this study. This version of the report also updates a data source citation and includes additional clarifying caveats to indicate that some data sources are of a more anecdotal nature and not generalizable.