PURPOSE

Department of Defense Directive

12 August 1953 NUMBER 5210.7

Department of Defense Civilian Applicant
and Employee Security Program

(a) Secretary of Defense memorandun, dated 14 June 1950,
"Policy on Investigation and Clearance of Depart-
ment of Defense Personnel for Handling Top Secret,
Secret, and Confidential Material and Information,"
as amended by Secretary of Defense memorandum,
dated 2 February 1951, and Department of Defense
Directive R-5210.2, dated 5 June 1952.

(b) Secretary of Defense memorandum, dated 2 October
1950 "Elimination of Non-sensitive Areas of
Employment" and attachment thereto, "Criteria for
Determining Eligibility for Employment for Sensi-
tive and Non-sensitive Duties in the Department
of Defense"

(c) Secretary of Defense memorandum, dated 19 January
1951, "Loyalty and Security Policies and Procedures"
and attachment thereto, "Uniform Criteria for
Administration of Loyalty and Security Policies
and Procedures for Civilian Personnel in the Depart-
ment of Defense"

(d) Secretary of Defense memorandum, dated 13 February 1951, "Pre-employment Investigations" and attachment thereto, "Pre-Appointment Investigations"

(e) Department of Defense Directive 5210.7, dated

26 May 1953, "Department of Defense Civilian Applicant and Employee Security Program"

To establish and maintain an effective program to insure that the employment and retention in employment of any civilian officer or employee within the Department of Defense is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security.

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II. CANCELLATION

References (b) through (e) are cancelled.

III. AUTHORITY

A. This directive is issued pursuant to the authority vested in the Secretary of Defense by the following:

1. The National Security Act of 1947 (Public Law 253, 80th Congress, as amended).

2. The Act of August 26, 1950 (Public Law 733, 81st
Congress).

3. Executive Order No. 10450, dated 27 April 1953,
"Security Requirements for Government Employment,"
"as amended."

IV. APPLICABILITY

V.

A. This directive applies to the following persons in the
Department of Defense:

1. Civilian applicants for employment

2. Civilian officers and employees

DEFINITIONS

A. National Security

B.

As used herein, the term "national security" relates to the protection and preservation of the military, economic, and productive strength of the United States, including the security of the government in domestic and foreign affairs, against or from espionage, sabotage, and subversion, and any and all other illegal acts designed to weaken or destroy the United States.

Sensitive Position

A "sensitive position" is any position within the Department of Defense, the occupant of which could bring about,

VI.

VII.

by virtue of the nature of the position, a material
adverse effect on the national security. Such posi-
tions shall include the following:

1. Any position, the duties or responsibilities of
which require access to Top Secret, Secret, or
Confidential security information or material.

2. Any other position so designated by authority of
the Secretary of Defense or of the Secretary of
a Military Department.

POLICY

A. No civilian will be employed or retained in employment
in the Department of Defense if his employment or
retention in employment is not clearly consistent
with the interests of the national security.

B. The use of the suspension and removal procedures author-
ized by Public Law 733 will be limited to cases in which
the interests of the national security are involved.
These procedures will be used to supplement, not to sub-
stitute for, normal civil service removal procedures.
Maximin use will be made of normal civil service removal
procedures where national security is not a consideration
and such procedures are adequate and appropriate.

STANDARD AND CRITERIA

A. Standard. The standard for the refusal of employment or the removal from employment in the interests of the national security shall be that, based on all the available information, it is determined that employment or retention in employment of the person concerned is not clearly consistent with the interests of the national security.

B. Criteria for Application of Standard. Information regarding an applicant for employment, or an employee, which may preclude a finding that his employment or retention is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security, shall relate, but shall not be limited, to the following:

1. Depending on the relation of the employment to the
national security:

a. Any behavior, activities or associations
which tend to show that the individual is
not reliable or trustworthy.

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2.

b. Any deliberáte misrepresentations, falsifica-
tions, or omission of material facts.

C.

Any criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or
notoriously disgraceful conduct, habitual use
of intoxicants to excess, drug addiction, or
sexual perversion.

d. Any illness, including any mental condition, of
a nature which in the opinion of competent
medical authority may cause significant defect
in the judgment or reliability of the employee,
with due regard to the transient or continuing
effect of the illness and the medical findings
in such case.

Any facts which furnish reason to believe that
the individual may be subjected to coercion,
influence, or pressure which may cause him to
act contrary to the best interests of the national
security.

Commission of any act of sabotage, espionage, treason, or sedition, or attempts thereat or preparation therefor, or conspiring with, or aiding or abetting, another to commit or attempt to commit any act of sabotage, espionage, treason, or sedition.

3. 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 may be 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 unconstitutional means.

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4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Intentional, unauthorised disclosure to any person of security information, or of other information disolosure of which is prohibited by law.

7. 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.

8. Participation in the activities of an organization established as a front for an organization referred to in subparagraph 5 above when his personal views were sympathetic to the subversive purposes of such organisation.

9. Participation in the activities of an organisation 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.

10. Participation in the activities of an organisation, referred to in subparagraph 5 above, in a capacity where he should reasonably have had knowledge of the subversive aims or purposes of the organisation.

11. Sympathetic interest in totalitarian, Fascist, Communist, or similar subversive movements.