Information Notice No. 83-15: Falsified Pre-Employment Screening Records

                                                            SSINS No.: 6835 
                                                            IN 83-15 

                               UNITED STATES 
                       NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 
                    OFFICE OF INSPECTION AND ENFORCEMENT 
                            WASHINGTON, DC 20555 

                               March 23, 1983

INFORMATION NOTICE NO. 83-15: FALSIFIED PRE-EMPLOYMENT SCREENING RECORDS 

Addressees: 

All nuclear power reactor facilities holding an operating license (OL) or 
construction permit (CP). 

Purpose:  

This information notice is provided to describe a potentially prevalent 
physical security weakness. Recipients should review the infomation for 
applicability to their facilities. No specific action or response is 
required at this time. 

Description of Circumstances:  

A former employee of an internationally recognized security contractor, 
alleged to the NRC that pre-employment screening records of security guards 
provided to an NRC licensee had been falsified at one specific site. 
Falsification of these records was alleged to have occurred in the following
categories: (1) interviews of some references, either developed or 
furnished, were not conducted; (2) positive identity of the applicant, which 
was supposed to have been verified by showing a photograph to the 
interviewee, was not done in some cases and, thus, positive identity was 
never verified; and (3) some interviews df references were reported to have 
been conducted in person, when, in fact, they were conducted by telephone. 

There were no allegations that the contractor had falsified any unfavorable 
responses relative to an applicant's reliability. The NRC's regional 
investigation and inspections of the licensee's revalidation efforts have 
found no instances of unfavorable responses from the interviewed references.

It appears that, for a fee, individuals of a local office of the security 
contractor had falsified screening records relative to reference interviews 
and traveling costs after completing all other ingredients of the background
investigation without identifying any adverse information. During a meeting 
in the NRC Regional Office, the security contractor advised the NRC that its
own audit of the other local office providing the same service to another 
NRC licensee had found no such falsification of screening records. 



8303040006 
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                                                           IN 83-15 
                                                           March 23, 1983 
                                                           Page 2 of 2 

Discussion: 

In the absence of 10 CFR Part 73 requirements for pre-employment screening, 
all licensees of operating nuclear power plants have comitted in varying  ' 
degrees to the criteria found in ANSI 18.17, as revised by ANSI 3.3. The NRC
has previously issued IE Circular No. 78-17, ctsated October 13, 1978, 
titled, "Inadequate Guard Training/Qualification and Falsified Training 
Records," and Information Notice No. 82-07, dated March 16, 1982, titled,
"Inadequate Security Screening Programs." Both of these IE notifications 
served to alert licensees to the possibility that contractors might submit 
falsified security records to meet their commitments to the NRC. 

The licensee involved in the circumstances described above has taken the 
following action in regard to screening security personnel: 

1.   Audited pre-employment screening records, certifications, and 
     supporting documentation to verify accuracy and completeness. 

2.   Conducted random revalidation of reference interviews to establish the 
     applicant's positive identity and the absence of unfavorable 
     information. 

3.   Conducted random personal observation of the local security contractor 
     in the conduct of screening efforts. 

4.   Incorporated into the routine Quality Assurance audit of the Security 
     Organization a check of the accuracy of the contractor's records, based
     on a random revalidation sample. 

No written response to this information notice is required. If you desire 
additional information regarding this matter, contact the Regional 
Administrator of the appropriate NRC Regional Office, or the contact listed 
below. 



                              Edward L. Jordan, Director  
                              Division of Emergency Preparedness  
                                and Emergency Response  
                              Office of Inspection and Enforcement 

Technical Contact:  N. E. Ervin 
                    301-492-7463 

Attachment: 
List of Recently Issued IE Information Notices