The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is actively investigating the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into this vetting procedure, as it prepares to extend the practice of continuous vetting throughout the government in the coming months.

Continuous vetting involves the periodic examination of a cleared individual’s background to confirm their ongoing compliance with security clearance standards.

This process incorporates automated record checks that access information from criminal, terrorism, financial databases, and public records.

“We have been assessing and piloting some of the clear, practical, and tangible uses that AI offers and supporting DCSA’s delivery of a trusted workforce, as well as protection to the Defense Industrial Base and supply chains,” Mark Pekrul, Deputy Assistant Director for customer and stakeholder engagement at DCSA reportedly said during a webinar hosted by Federal News Network (FNN).

“AI will have very real security applications for DCSA, from serving as a tool to improve quality and timeliness and processing background investigations, security clearance adjudications, and issuing industrial facility clearances, to identifying risk factors for insider threat incidents and potential assistance to DCSA personnel,” Pekrul added.