New rules for S.I.S. vetting

Press, 14 July 1978, Page 2

New rules for S.I.S. vetting

PA * Wellington New procedures for vetting State servants by the Security Intelligence Service were released yesterday by the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon >. The procedures are the result of an examination by an inter • department committee of recommendations by the former Chief Ombusdsman. Sir Guy Powles Tn his report. Sir Guy said vetting could affect many people very significantly. Sir Guy made 10 recommendations on vetting State servants. The first was that the vetting should be by the S.LS. and should be more uniform.

The first step in the chain of responsibility was to ensure that permanent heads must themselves be vetted, because until that was done there could not be the greater uniformity recommended by Sir Guy. "Procedures will accordingly be put in train by the State Services Commission to implement this approach,' 1 said Mr Muldoon. The commission will ini future arrange for any shortlist applicants for a per-! manent head position who do not hold a current security clearance to be checked, j "A qualified report from the service can be chai-; lenged before the Commissioner of Security Appeals,, because each person who isi the subject of a clearance will be entitled to know the result," he said. The permanent head position would not be filled until the results of the commissioner’s investigations were known. Sir Guy also recommended

that the subjects of name checking and normal vetting should normally be informed that this was being done. The Government response was that in cases where it was necessary for employees Ito be given a normal clearance they should be required to complete the employment : information form themselves. ‘‘The subjects of name checks should not, however, ibe told that such checks are : being done because these are I like other pre-employment • inquiries made normally by any prospective employer.” The type of position being filled could determine whether more formal inquiries were necessary and, if this were so, the job apjplicants would be told. Other recommendations — Ithat the S.I.S. be more ready

to interview a person being vetted at the vetting stage.

particularly when a qualified or negative opinion was indicated, and that wherever possible the S.LS. disclose to a government department concerned the reasons for a qualified or negative clearance — were generally agreed to. Sir Guy recommended that the criteria for trustworthiness should be reconsidered to ensure they included specific reference to convictions and types of conduct indicating untrustworthiness and unsatisfactory performance in employment.

The Government, however, is confident that the existing criteria are broad enough to cover all the matters raised by Sir Guy. ' Sir Guy recommended that less weight should be given to incidents which occurred a long time in the past, particularly if they had occurred during the person’s youth. “In such cases it would be desirable either to interview the person or obtain further positive evidence about his present day attitudes and activities,” Sir Guy said. The Government agreed that the S.LS. “should continue to give less weight to actions which have occurred during the youth of the subject. While the service must take such matters into account, the criteria also obliges it to discount them,” Mr Muldoon said. Another recommendation agreed to was that if, after a vetting, a report was made which gave less than a full clearance the person should be notified of this and of his rights of appeal.