OPNAVINST 5510.18

10 MARCH 1958

1. The Chief of Naval Operations (Director of Naval Intelligence), when requested by competent authority, shall be responsible for conducting security investigations of the following:

a. Military and civilian personnel of the Naval Establishment.

b. Private contractors and contractors' employees requiring access to classified informa tion. (Refer to the Armed Forces Industrial Security Regulation, OPNAV Instruction 5540.8A or subsequent revisions.)

2. The Chief of Naval Operations (Director of Naval Intelligence) may initiate investigations which are essential to the security of the Naval Establishment.

3. It is the exclusive responsibility of the Chief of Naval Operations (Director of Naval Intelligence) to maintain liaison with other activities having investigative functions, particularly the Army, the Air Force, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Within the naval districts such liaison shall be maintained by the district intelligence officers.

2.

a. National Agency Check.

b. Background Investigation.

National Agency Check:

a. A National Agency Check consists of the investigation of records and files of the follow. ing agencies, as appropriate:

(1) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Headquarters files (criminal and subversive) shall be checked in every case. The FBI fingerprint files shall be checked in addition to subversive files. A properly completed non-criminal-type fingerprint card shall be submitted with each request (OPNAV Form 5510-2).

(2) Office of Naval Intelligence, Depart ment of the Navy (ONI), shall be checked in all cases.

(3) Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Department of the Army, shall be checked when the individual is or has been in the Army or when he is or has been a civilian employee of the Department of the Army. (4) Office of Special Investigations, the Inspector General, USAF, Department of the Air Force (OSI), shall be checked when the individual is or has been in the Air Force or when he is or has been a civilian

or the acceptance of personnel for the naval service. Requirements relating thereto are contained in appropriate instructions issued by the Bureau of Naval Personnel, the Office of Industrial Relations, Commandant of the Marine Corps, or higher authority.

employee of the Department of the Air Force.

(5) Civil Service Commission (CSC) shall be checked on all persons who are or have been civilian employees of the United States Government.

(6) Immigration and Naturalization Serv. ice (INS) shall be checked in all cases in which the individual is an alien in the United States, an immigrant alien, or naturalized citizen.

(7) Central Index Personnel and Facility Security File shall be checked as determined by the Chief of Naval Operations (Director of Naval Intelligence).

(8) Bureau of Naval Personnel and/or Headquarters, U. S. Marine Corps, files shall be checked on each person who is or who has been a member of either service. In the case of Coast Guard Personnel, or personnel with Merchant Marine background, the files of the U. S. Coast Guard will also be checked.

(9) Other agencies shall be checked when pertinent to the purpose for which the investigation is being conducted. Chief of Naval Operations (Director of Naval Intelligence) shall determine when such other agencies should be checked.

b. The "record check and inquiry" conducted by the Civil Service Commission under Executive Order 9835 may be accepted as the equiv. alent of the National Agency Check plus written inquiries conducted by the Civil Serv. ice Commission under Executive Order 10450. Either check may be accepted for clearance purposes within the Naval Establishment with respect to civilian employees when the individual has been continuously in the employ of the Executive Branch of the Government since the completion of such investigation or there has been no break in the individual's employment longer than 90 days. ( Manins c. In the event derogatory or questionabic information concerning an individual is disclosed by a National Agency Check, the inquiry will be extended as necessary to obtain such additional information as may be re

quired as a basis upon which to grant or deny clearance.

3. Background Investigation:

A Background Investigation which is conducted for clearance purposes is designed to develop information as to whether the access to classified information by the person being investigated is clearly consistent with the interest of national security. It shall make inquiry into the pertinent facts bearing on the loyalty, integrity, and reputation of the individual.

pened of his cute will normally over the Jandar, 1937 to the date of the investigation or from the date of his 18th birthday whichever is the shorter period. When derogatory information is developed in the course of any investigation the investigation shall be extended to any part of the individual's life necessary to support or discount the allegations. A Background Investigation comprises the following essential elements:

a. National Agency Check.

b. Birth Records.-The individual's date and
place of birth shall be verified through schools,
employment or other records examined dur
ing the investigation. Only if a discrepancy
appears need vital statistics records be examined
to establish the individual's correct date and
place of birth.

c. Education.-Attendance at last school of
college shall be verified except that verifica
tion of attendance at primary schools is not
required in any circumstance; neither is verifi
ktan
Cation of attendance at secondary schools por
required Results of attendance at
Service Schools will as a rule appear in the indi-
vidual's service record and need not be con
firmed.) In addition to examining school
records persons in a position to know the
individual's activities while in attendance
should be interviewed, if available.

d. Employment.-The records of present and
former employers shall be examined to verify
the period of employment and efficiency
record. Former employers and co-workers
shall be interviewed, if available, to ascertain
the loyalty, character, and reputation of the
subject.

e. References.-The majority of the individual's references shall be interviewed. Interviews shall also be had with individuals (not relatives or former employers) who have knowledge of the subject's background and activities, but who are not given as references by the subject.

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f. Neighborhood investigations.-These quiries will be conducted when deemed necessary or expedient in substantiating or disproving derogatory information.

g. Criminal record. -The records of police departments and other law-enforcement agencies in the vicinities where subject has resided or been employed for substantial periods shall be checked.

h. Military service.-The service of subject in the Armed Forces and type of discharge shall be verified.

i. Foreign connections.-Any connections subject has had with foreigners in the United States or abroad are important and shall be reported. The extent and purpose of any such connections shall be ascertained as well as the relationship of the subject to foreign persons or organizations.

j. Citizenship status. -In all cases the citizenship status of the subject shall be established.

(1) United States citizens and U.S. notionals. (See subparagraph b above.) (2) Immigrant aliens.-The records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Washington, D.C., shall be searched to verify date and place of birth, legal entry into the United States and to ascertain whether, and when, the individual has indicated an

intention to become a citizen of the United States.

(3) Naturalized citizens.-The naturalization and date and place of birth shall be verified through records of the appropriate United States district court. If the place of naturalization cannot be determined, Immigration and Naturalization Service records, Washington, D.C., shall be examined.

k. Foreign travel.-If the subject has traveled outside the United States except in military or naval service, the State Department records shall be checked to determine reasons for such travel. Records of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) shall also be checked.

1. Credit record.-Whenever necessary credit agencies and/or credit references will be checked.

m. Organizations.-During the course of the investigation, as set forth above, and by examination of personal history statements and other records examined, efforts shall be made to determine if subject has:

"Membership in, or affiliation or sympathetic association with, any foreign or domestic organization, association, movement, group, or combination of persons, which is totalitarian, Fascist, Communist, or subversive, or which has adopted a policy of advocating or approving the commission of acts of force or violence to deny other persons their rights under the Constitution of the United States, or which seek to alter the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means." (Section 8(a) (5), E. O. 10450.)

1503. INTERIM AND FINAL CLEARANCES

1. A personnel security clearance is an administrative determination that an individual is eligible, from a security standpoint, for access to classified information of the same or lower cate

gory as the clearance being granted. Security clearances are of two types:

a. Final clearance-one granted upon completion of all investigative requirements as set forth in this chapter.

95-901 O-63 (App. vol. 1)–19

b. Interim clearance-a determination of temporary eligibility for access to classified information based on the lesser investigative requirement as set forth in this chapter. An interim clearance shall be issued only when it is clearly established that the delay while waiting for the completion of the investigation required for a final clearance would be harmful to the national interest. Investigation required to effect a final clearance shall be initiated when interim clearance procedures are used and a final clearance shall be executed upon satisfactory completion of the investigation, unless such clearance is no longer required.

2. If, upon review by the clearing authority of the Statement of Personal History (DD Form 398), it is apparent that the full investigative requirements for the category of clearance requested cannot be completed, an interim clearance shall not be granted, nor shall the investigation be initiated. 1504. GRANTING AND RECORDING CLEARANCES 1. It is the responsibility of competent authority (normally the commander or administrative senior in the chain of command) to insure that eligible personnel (military or civilians, including consultants, part-time employees and civilians paid from non-appropriated funds) under their jurisdiction are granted security clearances in accordance with the requirements of this chapter, prior to granting such personnel access to classified information. Such clearances (final and interim) shall be evidenced in each instance by the issuance of a Certificate of Clearance (OPNAV Form 5521429), except as provided in paragraph 5 below.

4. The original and all copies of Certificates of Clearance shall be signed by the commanding of ficer or his delegated representative (see Article 1510.1) and the ship or station seal or official seal of the U.S. Marine Corps, as appropriate, affixed. 5. Certificates of Clearance need not be executed for military and civilian personnel authorized to handle Confidential information unless the basis for authorization is a Background Investigation or a National Agency Check.

6. Certificates of Clearance or any other "certifi cate" form shall not be released to the subjects thereof, nor retained by them if previously released. This does not preclude military personnel from carrying their Service Records or Qualification Jackets containing such certificates when so directed or the inclusion of a statement of the clearance status in travel orders of military or civilian personnel.

7. A Certificate of Clearance does not in itself constitute authority for access to classified information. It is a determination of eligibility for access. Classified information is made available to appropriately cleared individuals only when a "need to know" is clearly established.

preparation therefor, or conspiring with or abiding or abetting another to commit or attempt to commit any act of sabotage, espionage, treason or sedition.

b. Establishing or continuing a sympathetic association with a saboteur, spy, traitor, seditionist, anarchist, or revolutionist, or with an espionage or other secret agent or representative of a foreign nation, or any representative of a foreign nation whose interests are inimical to the interests of the United States, or with any person who advocates the use of force or violence to overthrow the government of the United States or the alteration of the form of government of the United States by un

constitutional means.

c. Advocacy of use of force or violence to overthrow the government of the United States, or of the alteration of the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional

means.

d. Membership in, or affiliation or sympathetic association with, any foreign or domestic organization, association, movement, group, or combination of persons which is totalitarian, Fascist, Communist, or subversive, or which has adopted, or shows, a policy of advocating or approving the commission of acts of force or violence to deny other persons their rights, under the Constitution of the United States, or which seeks to alter the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means. (An organization, movement, or group, officially designated by the Attorney General of the United States to be totalitarian, Fascist, Communist, or subversive, to advocate or approve forcible or violent denial of Constitutional rights, or to seek alteration of the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means, shall be presumed to be of a character thus designated until the contrary be established.)

e. Performing or attempting to perform his duties, or otherwise acting, so as to serve the interests of another government in preference to the interests of the United States.

f. Failure or refusal to sign a loyalty certifi cate, or pleading protection of the Fifth

Amendment or of Article 31, Uniform Code of Military Justice, in refusing to completely answer questions contained in required security forms or personal history statements; pleading protection of the Fifth Amendment or of Article 31, Uniform Code of Military Justice, or otherwise failing or refusing to answer any pertinent question propounded in the course of an official investigation, interrogation, or examination, conducted for the purpose of ascertaining the existence or extent, or both, of conduct of the nature described in a through e above and g through m below. g. Participation in the activities of an organi. zation established as a "front" for an organization referred to in d above, when his personal views were sympathetic to the subversive purposes of such organization.

h. Participation in the activities of an organi zation with knowledge that it had been infiltrated by members of subversive groups under circumstances indicating that the individual was a part of, or sympathetic to, the infiltrating element or sympathetic to its purposes.

i. Participation in the activities of an organization, referred to in d above, in a capacity where he should reasonably have had knowledge of the subversive aims or purposes of the organization.

j. Sympathetic association with a member or members of an organization referred to in d above, or sympathetic interest in totalitarian, Fascist, Communist, or similar subversive

movements.

k. Currently maintaining a close continuing association with a person who has engaged in activities or associations of the type referred to in a through i above. A close continuing association may be considered to exist if the individual lives at the same premises as, frequently visits, or frequently communicates with such person.

1. Close continuing association of the type described in k above, even though later sepa. rated by distance, if the circumstances indicate that renewal of the association is probable.