Security Clearance Holders Duty to Report Incidents

By John V. Berry, www.berrylegal.com

Security clearance holders who occupy and who have access to classified information are expected to self-report security changes or incidents that may impact their security clearances. Security Executive Agent Directive (SEAD) 4 is a good guide for clearance holders to determine whether a new incident or development triggers a duty to self-report. Self-reporting is mandatory. Furthermore, it is much better to be proactive in disclosing reportable events than for them to be discovered later. Disclosing these issues prior to them being discovered can be considered to be a mitigating factor should these issue become of concern to security clearance adjudicators.