Sec. 864. Security clearance bridge pilot program
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The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall conduct a pilot program to enable employees of innovative technology companies to begin work under contracts more quickly by allowing the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency to administer the personal security clearances of the employees of innovative technology companies while the Government completes the adjudication of the facility clearance application of the innovative technology company.
Under the pilot program, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency may nominate and administer the personal security clearances of the employees of an innovative technology company while the Government completes the adjudication of the facility clearance application of the innovative technology company if the innovative technology company is a contractor of the Department of Defense under a contract the performance of which requires that the innovative technology company have access to classified information.
Under the pilot program, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency may administer the personal security clearances of employees of not more than— 25 innovative technology companies in Fiscal Year 2023; 50 innovative technology companies in Fiscal Year 2024; 75 innovative technology companies in Fiscal Year 2025; 100 innovative technology companies in Fiscal Year 2026; and 125 innovative technology companies in Fiscal Year 2027. Not later than 30 days after an innovative technology company is granted facility clearance, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency shall transfer any personal clearances of employees of the innovative technology company held by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency under the pilot program back to the innovative technology company.
Not later than 10 days after an innovative technology company is denied facility clearance, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency shall release any personal clearances of employees of the innovative technology company held by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency under the pilot program. Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security shall jointly submit to the congressional defense committees, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate a report on the progress of the pilot program.
Each report required under paragraph
(1)shall include— an assessment of— the extent to which the authority under the pilot program has been used; and the usefulness of such authority; the number of innovative technology companies for which the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency administered a personal security clearance of an employee under the pilot program; the number of programs of the Department of Defense affected by the pilot program; an analysis of the demand for additional innovative technology companies to participate in the pilot program, including who may have been excluded from the program due to the limitation in subsection (b)(2); the length of time required for the facility clearance adjudication of each innovative technology company for which the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency administered a personal security clearance of an employee under the pilot program; an estimate of the time saved on each contract with respect to which the authority under the pilot program is exercised by enabling employees of innovative technology companies to begin work before the Government completes the adjudication of the facility clearance application of the innovative technology company; an assessment of any foreign intelligence threats posed by the pilot program; an assessment of the administrative costs and benefits of the pilot program; and such other information that the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security jointly determine appropriate. The Defense Innovation Unit shall select innovative technology companies to participate in the pilot program. The pilot program shall terminate on December 31, 2028. In this section: The term facility clearance has the meaning given the term Facility Clearance in section 95.5 of title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation. The term innovative technology company means a company that— provides goods or services related to— one or more of the fourteen critical technology areas described in the memorandum by the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering issued on February 1, 2022, entitled USD(R&E) Technology Vision for an Era of Competition ; or information technology, software, or hardware that is unavailable from any other entity that possesses a facility clearance; and is selected by the Defense Innovation Unit under subsection
(e)to participate in the pilot program. The term personal security clearance means the security clearance of an individual who has received approval from the Department of Defense to access classified information. The term pilot program means the pilot program established under subsection (a).