Part 837 Postal Inspection Service: 837.1 PERSONNEL SECURITY .11 LEGAL PROVISIONS .111 Federal Employment. Executive Order 10450 of April 27, 1953, which is based on the act of August 26, 1950, 64 Stat. 476, prescribes the security requirements for Government employment. Section 837.1 is issued to carry out the provisions of the Executive order. .112 Personnel Security Officer and Legal Officer. The Postmaster General has designated the Chief Postal Inspector as Personnel Security Officer and the General Counsel as legal officer for personnel security matters for the Post Office Department and Field Postal Service. (Article 113, a list of organizations, was ordered held in subcommittee files and not printed.) .12 SECURITY REQUIREMENTS .121 Definitions a. As used herein, 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. b. As used herein, sensitive position means any position in the Postal Establishment the occupant of which could bring about, because of the nature of the position, a material adverse effect on the national security. Such positions shall include, but shall not be limited to, any position the occupant of which (1) may have access to security information or material classified as CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, or TOP SECRET, or any other information or material having a direct bearing on the national security, or (2) may have opportunity to commit acts directly or indirectly adversely affecting the national security. .122 Policy a. It shall be the policy of the Postal Establishment, based on the act of August 26, 1950, and Executive Order 10450, to employ and to retain in employment only those persons whose employment or retention in employment is found to be clearly consistent with the interests of the national security. b. The use of procedures pertaining to the suspension and removal of employees as authorized by the act of August 26, 1950, will be limited to cases in which the interests of national security are involved. These procedures are supplementary only and are not to be substituted for the usual civil-service removal procedures. Normal civil-service procedures will be used to the maximum extent where national security is not involved and when the procedures are adequate and appropriate. .123 Character and Conduct No person shall be employed, or retained as an employee, in the Postal Establishment unless the employment of such person is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security. Information regarding an applicant for employment, or an employee, in the Postal Establishment which may preclude a finding that his employment or retention in employment is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security shall relate, but shall not be limited, to the following: a. Depending on the relation of the Government employment to the national security: (1) Any behavior, activities, or associations which tend to show that the individual is not reliable or trustworthy. (2) Any deliberate misrepresentations, falsifications, or omissions of material facts. (3) Any criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct, habitual use of intoxicants to excess, drug addiction, or sexual perversion. (4) 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. (5) 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. b. 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. c. 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. d. 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. e. 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. 1. Intentional, unauthorized disclosure to any person of security information, or of other information disclosure of which is prohibited by law, or willful violation or disregard of security regulations. g. 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. h. Refusal by the individual, on the ground of constitutional privilege against self-incrimination, to testify before a congressional committee regarding charges of his alleged disloyalty or other misconduct. .124 Investigations a. Security investigations conducted pursuant to these regulations shall be designed to develop information as to whether employment or retention in employment by the Postal Establishment of the person being investigated is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security. b. Every appointment made within the Postal Establishment shall be made subject to investigation. The scope of the investigation shall be determined in the first instance according to the degree of adverse effect the Organization and Administration Transmittal Letter 55, 5-25-60 occupant of the position sought to be filled could bring about, by virtue of the nature of the position, on the national security, but in no event shall the investigation include less than a national agency check, including a check of the fingerprint files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and written inquiries to appropriate local law-enforcement agencies, former employers and supervisors, references, and schools and colleges attended by the person under investigation: Provided, That to the extent authorized by the Civil Service Commission, a less investigation may suffice with respect to per diem, intermittent, temporary, or seasonal employees, or aliens employed outside the United States. Should information develop at any stage of investigation indicating that the employment of any such person may not be clearly consistent with the interests of the national security, there shall be conducted with respect to such person a full field investigation, or such less investigation as shall be sufficient to enable the Postmaster General to determine whether retention of such person is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security. c. No sensitive position in the Postal Establishment shall be filled or occupied by any person with respect to whom a full field investigation has not been conducted: Provided, That a person occupying a sensitive position at the time it is designated as such may continue to occupy such position pending the completion of a full field investigation, subject to the other provisions of these regulations: And provided further, That in case of emergency, a sensitive position may be filled for a limited period of time by a person with respect to whom a full field preappointment investigation has not been completed if the Postmaster General finds that such action is necessary in the national interest. Such finding shall be made a part of the personnel record of the person concerned. d. Whenever a security investigation being conducted with respect to any employee of the Postal Establishment develops information relating to any of the matters described in 837.123 b through h, or indicates that an employee has been subject to coercion, influence, or pressure to act contrary to the interests of the national security, the matter shall be referred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a full field investigation. e. Investigation reports received from the Civil Service Commission or the Federal Bureau of Investigation shall be evaluated by the Personnel Security Officer of the Postal Establishment. .125 Suspension and Terminations, and Reemployments a. The authority conferred by the act of August 26, 1950, 64 Stat. 476, upon the heads of departments and agencies to which such act is applicable to suspend civilian employees, without pay, when deemed necessary in the interests of the national security is hereby delegated with respect to employees of the Postal Establishment to the Assistant Postmasters General and other bureau heads having jurisdiction over said employees within their respective bureaus. b. Upon receipt of an investigative report containing derogatory information relating to any of the matters described in 837.123, the Personnel Security Officer of the Postal Establishment shall immediately evaluate the report from the standpoint of the security of the Postal Establishment, and, if he deems suspension advisable in the interest of security, he shall forward the report together with the evaluation to the Assistant Postmaster General or bureau head concerned. c. Upon receipt of the investigative report and the evaluation of the Personnel Security Officer, the Assistant Postmaster General or other bureau head having jurisdiction shall make an immediate determination as to the Organization and Administration Transmittal Letter 55, 5-25-60 necessity for suspension of the employee in the interests of the national security. If he deems such suspension necessary, the employee shall be suspended immediately and a copy of the notice of suspension placed in the investigative file. If he does not deem such suspension necessary, a written determination to that effect shall be placed in the investigative file. In either event, on completion of the determination, the file will be returned to the Personnel Security Officer. d. Factors to be taken into consideration in making the determination required by 837.125 b and c shall include, but shall not be limited to, (1) the seriousness of the derogatory information developed, (2) the possible access, authorized or unauthorized, of the employee to security information or material, and (3) opportunity, by reason of the nature of the position, for committing acts adversely affecting the national security. e. In case the employee is suspended, he shall be notified as soon as possible of the reasons for his suspension. Such notice shall be in writing, and shall be as specific and detailed as security considerations, including the need for protection of confidential sources of information, permit. f. A suspended employee shall have the right to submit, within 30 days after notification of suspension, to the Personnel Security Officer, statements and affidavits refuting or explaining the stated reasons for suspension. Such statements and affidavits shall be considered by the Personnel Security Officer for sufficiency, and, after consultation with the General Counsel, a joint recommendation for the disposition of the case shall be made to the Postmaster General. If the Personnel Security Officer and the General Counsel are in disagreement, individual recommendation shall be made by them. g. On the basis of the recommendation or recommendations of the General Counsel and the Personnel Security Officer and of his own review of the case, the Postmaster General shall make his determination of the case as follows: (1) If he finds that reinstatement of the suspended employee in the position from which he has been suspended is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security, he shall restore the suspended employee to duty in such position, and the employee shall be compensated for the period of suspension. (2) If he does not find that reinstatement in the position from which he has been suspended will be clearly consistent with the interests of the national security, but that employment of the suspended employee in another position in the Postal Establishment is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security, he may restore the employee to duty in such other position. (3) If he does not find that reinstatement of the suspended employee to any position in the Postal Establishment is clearly consistent with the interests of the national security, he shall terminate the employment of the suspended employee. (4) If the employment of the suspended employee is terminated, the employee shall be given a written notice of such termination. h. In addition to the protection granted by 837.125 e through g to all employees of the Postal Establishment, any employee who is a citizen of the United States and who has a permanent or indefinite appointment and has completed his probationary or trial period shall be entitled to the following: (1) A written statement of charges shall be furnished the employee within 30 days after his suspension. The statement shall be signed by the Personnel Security Officer and shall be as specific and detailed as security considerations, including the need for protection of confi Organization and Administration Transmittal Letter 55, 5-25-60 |