Initial Security Clearance Process
Updated:
Initial and Reapproval Security Clearance Process
The following goes over the steps of the Initial and Reapproval Clearance Process. You will receive a detailed email from a Clearance Specialist. This is your point of contact during this process. In the initial email, you will be provided with 2 attachments. One will be instructions on how to complete the enrollment process and a help guide for the Clearance Application. If you have any questions, you can reach out to the Clearance Specialist directly or come by the Clearance Office located in Building 5200 Room 225.
These steps can be completed in ANY order.
Step 1: Enrollment
You will need to bring 2 forms of ID to the ORNL Badge Office (Visitor Center in Bldg. 5200) to complete your enrollment as soon as possible. This will include a photo, fingerprints, and verification of identification. No appointment is necessary. The Badge Office hours are Monday – Friday from 7:00am to 4:00 pm. Monday mornings are new hire days and are very busy, so if you must come on Mondays, please come after 9 a.m. Below will describe what IDs are acceptable. There are links that you can click on, hold CTRL + the link at the same time.
You must have two physical and current forms of identification: at least one must be a primary form of ID. Click on the primary form link to see accepted forms of ID.
If the names on your forms of ID do not match, you may need to bring the appropriate linking documentation, such as a marriage license or court order, that shows the change in names. If your name changes or is going to change, contact your sponsor to learn what to do.
You cannot complete your appointment if you do not have the appropriate documents with you. An expired form of ID is not acceptable for either enrollment or activation appointments.
Primary form (PAPER COPIES OF REAL ID’S ARE NOT ACCEPTED, ONLY HARD COPY)
Note: If the full names on your documents do not match exactly (including all spelling, suffixes, etc.), a linking document must also be provided to essentially “link” the two names and show when they changed. An acceptable linking document could be a court document or marriage certificate. Additional questions regarding acceptable enrollment documents can be directed to x10badging@ornl.gov.
If you are not local to the Oak Ridge area, you may need to complete your enrollment elsewhere. If you have not yet moved to East Tennessee and do not have an upcoming trip to the area planned, please use this link to schedule an appointment at a DOE credentialing facility near you. https://portal.usaccess.gsa.gov/scheduler/home
Step 2: Drug Screening
ORNL Medical Personnel will reach out to you separately in an email to schedule your drug screening. If you are a new employee and your recent completed drug screen is less than 90 days old, then you will not have to take one, otherwise any personnel going through this process will have to take one. If you do not live in the area, when medical reaches out to you, they can schedule this at a facility close to where you live.
Step 3: Submitting Information in NBIS eAPP
You will receive an email from donotreply@nbis this will contain your username. Read below, there is a link that you can click on that will direct you to where you can set up your password. Once you have set up your password, then you will login with the username and password. It will then ask you to click and send a verification email to the email on file. Once it sends it, you will click Verify and it will take you to your application.
Once you are in your application, first it will ask for your full Social Security number and date of birth. Afterwards, you will be able to begin inputting the DOE specific information required for the clearance process.
The investigating agencies are very particular about the information that is submitted into NBIS eApp, and some things that will result in your NBIS eApp submission being returned to you for corrections that are not flagged by the NBIS eApp system. This is why it is very important for you after you have completed all 10 sections, there is a submit button. When you click that, then it will have an option to download a draft PDF. Do NOT click on the releases. Save this PDF and send this directly to your Clearance Specialist encrypted or password protected. They will review your application and if any corrections are needed, they will reach out to you directly for you to make them. Doing it this way keeps your application from being rejected in the system back to you. When this happens, you will have to re-answer all the YES and NO questions again.
Step 4: Submitting your NBIS eAPP
Once you have completed the enrollment, your Clearance Specialist has received your negative drug screen results and they have informed you that your application has no errors, they will reach out to you and instruct you to submit. You will login to NBIS, go to the submit tab, and then you will click on the releases. If you are unable to complete all required digital signature pages within NBIS eApp, please contact your Clearance Specialist directly. Once you have submitted your package, then your Clearance Specialist will process this and forward it to DOE for further processing.