DAYTON, OH (Dayton Daily News) — The Air Force has ended in-person and virtual hearings for appeals to denials to its Special Access Program security protocol, leaving questions in the wake of the policy change.
The program, known as “SAP,” controls access to sensitive classified information beyond what is normally required. As the ClearanceJobs.com website describes this level of classification, “This is a high state of enforced need-to-know, and only a minimum number of cleared employees are given access to SAP information.”
The new process does not permit appeal hearings attended either online or in person, according to a Jan. 21 memo from Vincent Liddiard, director of security, special program oversight and information protection in the Secretary of the Air Force’s office, a memo shared with the Dayton Daily News.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is home to two important Air Force and Space Force intelligence-gathering agencies that generate and work with classified information — the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, also known as “NASIC,” and the National Space Intelligence Center, once known as “Space Delta 18.”
Dan Meyer, a partner in law firm Tully Rinckey’s Washington, D.C. office, told the Dayton Daily News that as a former Department of Defense inspector general’s office employee, he qualified for a small subset for SAP programs. SAPs are “subject-matter specific,” focusing on, for example, weapons systems or satellites or other sensitive issues.
The clearance gives employees access they need to do their jobs. They can lose such access for a multitude of reasons, including being charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol.
“If you do something that jeopardizes your SAP access, it can be revoked,” Meyer said.
If a federal employee loses such access, that employee can also lose his or her job.
The issue then becomes: How does that revocation get reviewed, and what is an employee’s role in that review if that employee wishes to regain SAP access, Meyer said.
The reason behind the policy change is unclear, as Meyer sees it. What a employee needs to know is why SAP access has been withdrawn. Sometimes that’s clear — but sometimes it’s not.
“Sometimes you’re guessing,” he said.
