What is the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS)? Serves as a master repository that performs comprehensive personnel security management of all DOD employees, military personnel, civilians and DOD contractors. Composed of two sub-systems: o Joint Adjudication Management System (JAMS) - Record eligibility determinations.
Loss of Jurisdiction Status of an individual’s security clearance when employment for the required clearance terminates after a clearance action is initiated but before a final determination is made to grant, continue, deny, or revoke the clearance.

May 30, 2012
Posted by: William Henderson
Category: Special Issues

Few things cause more frustration than being rejected by a prospective employer because of a “Loss of Jurisdiction” and an “Incident Report.”

When you’re terminated from a job where you held a Department of Defense (DoD) security clearance, your former employer “separates” you in the Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS—the DoD security clearance database). If you were terminated from your job for cause, the employer often concurrently submits an Incident Report via JPAS describing the reason for termination. This occurs when the termination is related to one of the thirteen Adjudicative Guidelines for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified Information.

Normally when an employer submits an Incident Report to the DoD Central Adjudication Facility (CAF) responsible for your clearance, the CAF reviews the report to decide what action is necessary. If the report doesn’t contain any disqualifying information, the CAF closes the Incident Report simply by updating the JPAS record. Alternatively the CAF can request additional information, including a new Questionnaire for National Security Positions (Standard Form 86—SF86), and/or a limited investigation. Once sufficient information is received, the CAF can decide whether to favorably adjudicate the Incident Report and “continue” your clearance or begin the process of clearance revocation.

When the Incident Report occurs at the same time you’re “separated” in JPAS, the CAF cannot review the Incident Report or take any other action, and a Loss of Jurisdiction is entered into your JPAS record. The Loss of Jurisdiction and the unresolved Incident Report remain in your JPAS record, and your name is flagged in red letters. Getting the red out can be a problem.

The problem arises when you apply for a job at another place of employment and your clearance cannot be quickly reinstated. The new employer can take “ownership” of your JPAS record, but the request for Research/Recertify/Upgrade (RRU) submitted via JPAS for reinstatement will require the CAF to favorably adjudicate the Incident Report before your clearance can be reinstated. If the RRU is submitted to the same CAF that originally received the Incident Report and the report contains only minor unfavorable information, the CAF can easily and quickly resolve the matter and reinstate your clearance. If the RRU is submitted to a different CAF, that CAF will only see that an unresolved Incident Report exists; they won’t be able to see what was said in the report. The CAF will have to obtain a copy of the report before they can review it and determine what action should be taken. This usually means initiating a limited investigation, which could take months to complete, and might or might not result in clearance reinstatement.

For this reason many prospective employers may be reluctant to extend a job offer for a cleared position when a pending Incident Report and Loss of Jurisdiction are in your JPAS record. It’s usually faster for them to obtain a Secret clearance or an interim Top Secret clearance for an applicant who didn’t previously have a clearance.

Loss of jurisdiction Not sure if this is the right place to ask but I got out as my investigation was being renewed. Found out from JPAS that the investigation was completed last year however it is currently in loss of jurisdiction status, from what I've researched a new employer is not able to pick it up unless this is resolve however I have. Loss of Jurisdiction or (LOJ) is usually posted when an individual has no affiliation with an Industry Facility. A CAF, other than DOHA, determines that an individual no longer requires access to SCI. If the individual still requires access to Top Secret the FSO should notify PSMO-I via RRU.

A person’s eligibility for access to classified information in JPAS can be change to “Loss of Jurisdiction” for other reasons, such as:

Sponsorship of a clearance is withdrawn while any other adjudicative action is pending.
Withdrawal of an interim security clearance by the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO).
Failure to submit an SF86, when requested by a CAF.
Access eligibility to Sensitive Compartmented Information for a DoD contractor is denied, revoked, or terminated, and DISCO has security cognizance for the collateral clearance.

Although Loss of Jurisdiction is never desirable; when it occurs to a person who is still employed in a position that requires a clearance, they are notified of the problem and may be in a situation where they can exert some influence over the ultimate outcome. When Loss of Jurisdiction occurs in conjunction with an Incident Report, the person usually doesn’t become aware of the problem until they apply for another job that requires a clearance. Unfortunately the only way to resolve the problem is to find a prospective employer who is willing to sponsor the clearance and wait until the Incident Report is
adjudicated.

Jpas Investigation Request Status

by William Henderson
All Original Content Copyright © 2012 Last Post Publishing. All rights reserved.

An article in USA Today says more state and local law enforcement officers are getting top secret clearances from the FBI to access sensitive federal information in terrorism cases than at anytime since 9/11.

Jpas Loss Of Jurisdiction Clearance Status

Clearances granted to members of the FBI’s network of regional terrorism task forces jumped to 878 in 2009, up from 125 in 2007…Since 2001, the number of terrorism units, which draw on federal, state and local investigators, have grown from 35 to 104 nationwide. The units are staffed with 4,433 officers and agents, up from 912 in 2001, FBI spokesman Bill Carter told USA Today.

The FBI is launching an effort to declassify information that can be shared with more local investigators. “Trying to get everybody into the clearance arena is not the solution,” FBI Assistant Director Ronald Ruecker reported to USA Today.

Jpas loss of jurisdiction clearance status

Jpas Status Page

After 9/11, the FBI established the State and Local Law Enforcement Executives and Elected Officials Security Clearance Initiative. This program was initiated to brief officials with an established “need-to-know” on classified information that would or could affect their area of jurisdiction.

Jpas Loss Of Jurisdiction Clearance Status Form

For more information see FBI Process for State and Local Law Enforcement | Brochure [pdf]