Australian Government Security Clearances for Five Eyes Alliance Reciprocity

The United States is a member of the intelligence alliance known as the “Fives Eyes” which includes Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. As such, classified intelligence and threat information is shared among the members of the alliance. Obviously, the intelligence staff and others involved must be vetted and gain security clearance eligibility. Just as NATO members do, the Five Eyes alliance has reciprocal agreements in place to accept each other’s vetting processes for access to classified information. Oversight for these agreements is provided by the Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council (FIORC) and is composed of members from all five countries.

Let’s take a brief look at what Australia’s security clearance process looks like. Under the Australian Government Protective Security Policy purview, individuals who need access to security classified resources must hold a security clearance. This includes individuals that occupy a position of trust that requires additional assurance. The vetting is completed by selected service providers, much like the U.S. does using contracted agents.

Australia has four levels of security clearances that are granted once the appropriate level background investigation is completed and favorably adjudicated. They are:

• Baseline – permits ongoing access to classified resources up to and including Protected (equivalent of U.S. Confidential).
• Negative Vetting 1 – permits ongoing access to classified resources up to and including Secret, and temporary access to Top Secret classified resources in certain circumstances.
• Negative Vetting 2 – permits ongoing access to classified resources up to and including Top Secret.
• Positive Vetting – permits ongoing access to classified resources up to and including Top Secret, including some caveated resources.
• Top Secret-Privileged Access (TS-PA) – equivalent of U.S. Top Secret with Sensitive Compartmented Information access), and will eventually replace the current Positive Vetting security clearance level.

The Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) oversees the background investigation, vetting and adjudication processes for Australian citizen security clearances, much like the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) does for the United Stated. When either country’s cleared personnel need their clearance information passed over in support of “Five Eye’s” information access these are the two agencies who handle it.