The importance of financial readiness for Soldiers has become more important than ever. An initiative called Trusted Workforce 2.0, introduced in 2018 as a whole-of-government approach, is replacing the end-to-end personnel vetting process for security, suitability, and credentialing with a single vetting system for the federal government.
Continuous vetting, a component of Trusted Workforce, is the ongoing review of a cleared individual’s background using automated records checks from criminal, financial, terrorism, and other databases. This helps mitigate personnel security situations before they become larger issues by working with the cleared individual to mitigate potential issues, or in some cases, suspending or revoking a security clearance.
Continuous vetting replaces the 5-year/10-year traditional reinvestigations. Personnel still must complete the national security questionnaire every five years. Instead of background investigations every five years for a Top-Secret clearance or every 10 years for a Secret clearance, DoD personnel will be continuously vetted.
“Financial issues are the single biggest reason to initiate due process to deny or revoke a security clearance and are a major concern for leaders and commanders who care about their Soldiers’ well-being and mission readiness,” said Robyn Mroszczyk, financial education program manager.
Some financial issues that will trigger concerns are unpaid debt, paying bills late, failure to pay taxes, financial problems linked to gambling, drug abuse, alcoholism, not paying child support and getting vehicles repossessed.
Soldiers can no longer wait until their “next” background investigation at the five-year point to clean up their financial issues. They can be flagged at any time. Prompt reporting minimizes risk and allows the Commander to assist the individual in addressing security concerns that may impact the individual’s security clearance.
This means Soldiers must always ensure their financial readiness remains a priority. The Army offers multiple ways to stay ahead of any potential financial problem via the Financial Readiness Program.
“Leaders should notify Soldiers of the DoD policy requirement to have a favorable adjudication and remind them to refrain from behavior that could jeopardize their security clearance,” says Mroszczyk. “As most security clearances are denied or revoked due to financial issues, leaders should also ensure Soldiers attend all mandatory financial Common Military Trainings throughout their career.”
Additionally, the Financial Readiness Program is available to assist Soldiers to avoid common barriers to obtaining and maintaining a favorable adjudication.
Some common documents to mitigate financial issues are: credit report, letters from creditors, bank statements, tax records, a lien release from a court, and debt consolidation agreement.
“Soldiers should make every effort to respond to inquiries on time and address all security concerns to their security office openly and immediately” says Mroszczyk. :Soldiers should keep up to date with their own credit by going to www.annualcreditreport.com to review what is on their credit report to stay ahead of any potential financial issue. They should report any issues and show they are doing their due diligence to work on issues and rehabilitate financially.”
For assistance with financial considerations, contact a no-cost, credentialed financial counselor at your installation and visit https://www.financialfrontline.org/
For more resources:
www.financialfrontline.org
www.militaryonesource.mil
Social Sharing