INSA Publishes Report on Reimagining the SCIF Life

There are many cleared workers who have to report to a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) every day to do their work. With the recent changes in allowing more telework and remote work across the federal government, there has been an increase in the number of SCIF employees considering finding jobs that allow for more flexibility and work-life balance. This is especially so now that many agencies are calling for their workforce to return to the office full-time. This prompted the Intelligence and National Security Alliance to write a white paper to specifically get Intelligence Community (IC) agencies to reimagine how they can provide their workers flexibility and still get the work done securely using hybrid solutions.

For instance, agencies should recognize that not all work needs to be done in a SCIF if it is not classified. Give workers an opportunity one or two days a week to telework and complete non-classified work from home. This includes using open-source intelligence sources that don’t require access to classified networks. SCIF operating policies also need updating which would allow for workers to store mobile devices in secure lockers nearby so they can check on messages from children, doctors, daycare, or other communications that those who do not work in a SCIF have access to during the entire workday.

The report made some very specific recommendations to help improve SCIF life, which would in turn improve morale and help IC agency retention rates. The pandemic really put a spotlight on flexibility and work-life balance and federal agencies had to come up with innovative ways to keep their employees safe and content, but at the same time accomplish the mission. You can go here to read the entire report and its recommendations.