David Cattler, director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, aims to ensure that National Background Education Services works to its full potential after initially not reaching its effectiveness goals.
NBIS is an information technology system meant to modernize the background investigation process. However, since DCSA took over the system in 2020, they have struggled to get it up and running, the Department of Defense said Thursday.
Cattler, who has served as DCSA director for just over 90 days, declared his commitment to NBIS’ progress on Wednesday to members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s subcommittee on government operations and the federal workforce.
“Simply and directly, the delay in fielding NBIS is unacceptable to everyone,” Cattler said. “Oversight from GAO [Government Accountability Office] and Congress are important parts of this ecosystem of accountability. As we move forward, we will be guided by what is in the best interest of national security and what is in the best interest of the taxpayer.”
The system is expected to be a vital component of the Trusted Workforce 2.0 initiative, often referred to as TW 2.0, which aims to build a single personnel security vetting system for the federal government.
Cattler said, “When complete, NBIS will deliver robust data security, enhanced customer experience and integrate data access across the whole-of-government and cleared industry.”
In numerous reports, the GAO outlined areas DCSA needs to improve to move forward with NBIS.
“Even before I became DCSA’s director, I closely studied these reports and noted GAO’s concerns,” Cattler stated. “These recommendations do guide my focus and my direction as the director of DCSA. I have directed that we renew our focus on these recommendations, and we close the action items presented within them as soon as we can.”
Over the next 18 months, DCSA will prioritize five actions to push delivery of NBIS — modernizing and migrating NBIS applications; aligning acquisition and development actions; adapting the NBIS workforce; aligning program cost and service pricing and strengthening cybersecurity protections.