Submitting an Updated SF-86 is Required Every 5 Years for All Clearance Holders

In the past, security clearance holders had to undergo a periodic reinvestigation every 5 years for Top Secret and 10 years for Secret. When the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) took over background investigations from the Office of Personnel Management, it gradually instituted continuous evaluation protocols to ween off having to conduct reinvestigations. Eventually, the process morphed into what is now called Continuous Vetting (CV). This was supposed to save time and money, and to catch adjudicative concerns in real time.

However, now all clearance holders, regardless of level, must submit an updated SF-86 (soon to be PVQ) every 5 years. That means the time spent by Security Specialists and Facility Security Officers in initiating and reviewing eAPPs has increased three-fold since Secret clearance holders are added to the 5-year requirement. Additionally, the Adjudicators at DCSA’s Adjudication and Vetting Services Division have the same increase in numbers for reviewing the submitted SF-86s for any flags that might affect clearance eligibility. The time and cost saving is primarily from Investigative Service Providers working mostly on initial background investigations rather than reinvestigations.

DCSA instructions state that an SF-86 update must be submitted 5 years from the CV enrollment date. Once reviewed favorably, the clearance holder will be put in a Continued Enrollment status and won’t have to submit another update until 5 years later. An exception to this is if an intelligence agency requires an updated SF-86 for Sensitive Compartmented Information access or for a Special Access Program.