Personnel Security

PER016

Set the right expectations (for clearance holders)

A clearance holder’s manager must communicate with them clearly to set the right expectations for their role. The clearance holder must understand your organisation’s security policies and practices, and be aware of them when they change.

Your organisation must provide security awareness training/briefings to clearance holders at the time the clearance is granted, and at least every five years. The five years is a condition of re-validating the clearance holder’s clearance. The briefings should detail the clearance holders’ responsibilities.

A clearance holder needs to understand and acknowledge the specific responsibilities they have as a national security clearance holder. Their manager should clarify with them if their continued employment is conditional on them maintaining a clearance to the appropriate level.

Ways to ensure awareness and education include:

  • establishing personnel security risk management plans
  • providing additional briefings with the clearance holder relevant to their security level and role.

Monitor and evaluate the clearance holder

To help set expectations from the start, clearance holders should know that they will be evaluated regularly because their suitability to hold a clearance can change over time.

Establish a security risk management plan

When you receive a vetting recommendation from the NZSIS with specific recommendations (‘qualifications’) for security risk management, you must establish a security risk management plan with the clearance holder and provide a copy of the plan to the NZSIS.

Conduct security briefings as needed

Types of briefings that may be given to people when they start, or for specific purposes, include:

  • overseas travel briefings and debriefings and personal safety briefings when travelling on official business or for personal purposes
  • briefings and debriefings for accessing TOP SECRET material
  • briefings and debriefings to allow access to specific protectively marked information or resources that have an endorsement, are compartmented or have codeword protection (Note: some of these briefings need to be provided by NZSIS or GCSB)
  • specific location briefings for high-risk destinations
  • briefings tailored for specific categories of employment, for example, the unique security issues for information technology (IT) staff, scientists and others
  • briefings tailored to contractors, temporary employees, visitors, and families of staff
  • briefings tailored to the person’s particular security needs as part of an ongoing management plan
  • risk management briefings in general, and protective security briefings in particular.

Page last modified: 4/05/2022