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PER014
This section provides guidance to help government organisations understand when someone in their organisation needs to hold a national security clearance and when they don't (PERSEC4).
If a person needs access to government information, assets, or work locations marked IN CONFIDENCE, SENSITIVE, or RESTRICTED for their role, they do not need a clearance. However, the ‘need-to-know’ principle still applies. That means ensuring you restrict access to people who have an operational need and have passed your personnel security checks.
If a person needs access to government information, assets, or work locations classified as CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, or TOP SECRET for their role, they must have a clearance at the appropriate level.
To work out whether a person requires a clearance and at what level:
Remember to consult your security staff throughout this process.
The vetting process helps to mitigate threats to national security from the following sources.
Anyone who needs access to an ICT system that holds classified information or assets marked CONFIDENTIAL or above must have a clearance that matches the highest protective marking of information held in the system.
If a system holds collections of information
Collections of information (aggregated information) can be more valuable than the single pieces of information they’re made up of. When you’re working out access levels, ensure you consider the value or sensitivity of collections of information held in your ICT systems. You need to ensure access levels reflect the risk of harm from collections of information being misused.
For example, if you have a collection of RESTRICTED information in a system and it is considered CONFIDENTIAL when considered as a whole, users of that system must have a CONFIDENTIAL clearance.
If a system holds Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI)
If a system holds SCI, everyone who accesses the system must have the required security clearances and briefings for the compartments.
ICT systems holding SCI must be accredited by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
We recommend you get advice from the GCSB to help you work out clearance levels and citizenship requirements for access to ICT systems with SCI.
If a system holds information marked New Zealand Eyes Only (NZEO)
The NZEO marking shows that access to information is restricted to New Zealand citizens with an appropriate clearance on a need-to-know basis.
If an ICT system holds information marked NZEO, you can’t give access to anyone who is not a New Zealand citizen unless:
You cannot allow foreign nationals to access:
These rules apply even if the person already has a national security clearance at the appropriate level. (Some exceptions apply in limited circumstances.)
If you need short-term or temporary cover for a role that requires a clearance, consider reassigning an existing clearance holder from within your organisation.
If you need a new clearance for a short-term role, talk to the NZSIS security vetting team about whether the person could be cleared in time to meet your needs.
When your organisation advertises a position that requires a clearance, it is good practice to:
Being up front and approachable about eligibility and what’s involved with getting a clearance may mean you get fewer unsuitable applications for the role.
It is good practice to make getting and maintaining a clearance a condition of employment.
Ideally, you will have notified potential candidates of this condition in your advertising. If you haven’t, tell your chosen candidate before you offer them employment and include the condition in their employment contract (or contract for services if they’re a contractor or service provider). Apply this practice to internal candidates or secondment arrangements as well.
Candidate’s suitability for ongoing access to New Zealand government information or resources protectively marked at the CONFIDENTIAL level.
Vetting at the CONFIDENTIAL level is ‘negative’ in that inquiries are usually limited to checking records for adverse indicators.
If nothing negative is found, the national security clearance will usually be recommended.
Most recent 5 years of candidate’s background (unless requesting organisation provides compelling reasons otherwise).
Candidate’s suitability for ongoing access to New Zealand government information or resources protectively marked at the CONFIDENTIAL level and SECRET level.
Vetting at the SECRET level is an ‘intermediate’ vetting involving more extensive enquiries than for a ‘negative vetting’.
The consideration not only assesses whether anything adverse is known about the candidate, but must also establish some positive assurance.
Most recent 10 years of candidate’s background (unless requesting organisation provides compelling reasons otherwise).
Candidate’s suitability for ongoing access to New Zealand government information or resources protectively marked at the CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET and TOP SECRET level. This includes resources that carry compartmented markings.
For vetting at the TOP SECRET level, the security assessment must be ‘positive’.
Extensive inquiries are carried out to check suitability for access to the highest levels of national security information or resources that are protectively marked.
Positive assessment is only given if inquiries provide sound reasons to consider the candidate trustworthy in the security context and suitable to have access to the highest levels of national security information.
18 years of age
Most recent 10 years (unless requesting organisation provides compelling reasons otherwise).
Suitability for ongoing access to all information and resources protectively marked under the security classification system, including resources that carry compartmented markings.
TOP SECRET SPECIAL clearance is limited to:
Some groups and individuals within:
More extensive inquiries are conducted in these instances.
The final assessment must be compellingly positive, and have no residual security concerns.
18 years of age.
Most recent 15 years (for initial clearance).
PER015
Before your organisation submits a vetting request for a national security clearance, you must check the candidate’s eligibility and suitability.
Your chief security officer (CSO) is responsible for:
To be eligible for vetting, a person must be a New Zealand citizen or holder of a Residence class visa.
In rare circumstances, other candidates may be considered for security vetting. However, several steps are involved before you can request vetting.
Your chief executive or CSO must discuss the rare circumstances with NZSIS vetting first. If NZSIS vetting agrees, you can prepare and submit a business case for vetting (your chief executive must approve the business case before you submit it). Vetting can only go ahead if the NZSIS accepts the business case.
Before your organisation submits a vetting request, make sure each vetting candidate meets the minimum requirements for checkable background.
In most cases, a person’s background must be checkable for the required period. In some situations, it can be hard to assess whether a person meets the minimum requirements. View the answers to common questions after the following table for guidance.
| Clearance level | Background checking |
| CONFIDENTIAL | 5 years |
| SECRET | 10 years |
| TOP SECRET | 10 years |
| TOP SECRET SPECIAL | 15 years |
What if the candidate is too young to have enough checkable background?
If a vetting candidate doesn't have enough checkable years because of their age, they’re still eligible for vetting. The NZSIS vetting team may recommend that a clearance is granted for a shorter time.
For example, if the candidate is 20, they’ll only be checked back to the age of 18 even if the checkable background requirement is 5 years. The recommendation from NZSIS vetting team will be that you only grant a clearance for 2 years.
What if a candidate has spent lots of time living overseas?
Time in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the USA is considered checkable. Time in other countries is generally not checkable. In rare circumstances, candidates who have spent a lot of time living overseas may still be able to apply for a clearance. Several additional steps are involved before they can apply for a vetting. The NZSIS vetting team can let you know whether they consider the candidates background checkable or not. The candidate should engage with the sponsoring agency to determine if they are eligible.
When candidates have worked overseas for a New Zealand Government organisation, their time in other countries can be checkable if that organisation gives assurance that they’ve managed the person in line with protective security requirements for clearance holders.
Contact the NZSIS vetting team for advice: securityclearance@nzsis.govt.nz
What if you’re recruiting the candidate from overseas?
If you’re recruiting from overseas, the person will still need to meet the checkable background requirements.
Before your organisation submits a vetting request, you must have trust and confidence in the person and their ability to gain a favourable recommendation for a clearance.
To help you check their suitability, review your organisation’s records (such as performance or disciplinary records). Look for any records that show the candidate may be unsuitable. For example, records of:
You should also assess the person’s strength of character and integrity. If you have doubts about whether you can trust them with access to classified information, assets, or work locations, do not submit a vetting request.
The NZSIS applies the Security assessment criteria and the adjudicative guidelines when they vet candidates for a security clearance.
If a risk assessment shows your organisation needs stricter criteria for deciding who you will request vetting for, apply those criteria during your eligibility checking process alongside the mandatory checks described on this page.
PER029
A government organisation’s chief security officer is responsible for submitting vetting requests for national security clearances to the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) using the Tiaki portal.
Tiaki is a secure, automated web-based system. Only authorised people have access to Tiaki.
The information candidates give in the vetting questionnaire can only be used for vetting purposes. Your organisation can check the status and progress of applications in Tiaki, but you can’t access or use the information for any other purpose.
Before you initiate a request for vetting, you need to be sure the person is eligible for vetting and likely to gain a favourable recommendation for a clearance.
Make sure you’ve checked the person’s eligibility and suitability.
Remember to wait until your organisation has received a vetting recommendation and granted a clearance before you allow any access to classified information, assets, or work locations.
Contact the NZSIS vetting team to discuss an urgent vetting request before submitting it. If the NZSIS agrees you can go ahead with a request, make sure you include:
You should only request urgent vetting when it is critical to do so. Examples of such circumstances may include, but are not limited to, short-notice vetting for:
Be conscious that prioritising one vetting request is likely to delay other requests.
In an emergency, your chief executive may grant a person who already holds a clearance access to information, assets, or work locations one level above (or 'one-up') their current clearance. For more information about emergency access see Manage their security clearance.
PER030
After your organisation gets a vetting recommendation from the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS), you need to review it, decide whether to grant a national security clearance, and let the NZSIS know what you’ve decided.
You must also ensure vetting candidates know what their rights are.
When the NZSIS finishes vetting your candidate for a national security clearance, they’ll give their written recommendation to your chief security officer (CSO) or their delegate.
The NZSIS may recommend:
Remember that your organisation must not grant a clearance at a higher level than you requested vetting for.
When you grant a clearance, you are the sponsoring organisation for that clearance holder.
For a clearance at the level you requested
If the NZSIS recommends a clearance at the level you requested and your organisation decides to grant the clearance, you must provide the clearance holder with:
For a clearance at a lower level
If the NZSIS has concerns that may lead to recommending a clearance at a lower level than your organisation requested, they may advise your CSO to withdraw the person’s access to classified information, assets, or work locations above the level of the clearance recommended.
Your CSO should advise human resources of the outcome if the clearance was a condition of employment.
Your organisation can then confirm the employment condition is met, or decide whether you will withdraw the employment offer, redeploy the person, or terminate their employment.
Note: A vetting candidate has the right to complain if they’re unhappy with a vetting recommendation. If a candidate complains, wait until the complaint process is finished before you take any action. Seek legal advice if needed.
With qualifications on the clearance
Your organisation should follow any specific recommendations (‘qualifications’) that the NZSIS makes for managing security risks associated with a vetting candidate.
If you decide you can accept and manage the risks, work with the clearance holder to put a security risk management plan in place to manage the risks.
For a clearance not to be granted
Your organisation should not grant a clearance when you receive an adverse recommendation from the NZSIS about the candidate. Contact the NZSIS vetting team for more information.
If your organisation decides to grant a clearance to a foreign national, it’s a good idea to make gaining New Zealand citizenship by a certain date a condition of maintaining their clearance. This helps give assurance of their loyalty to New Zealand.
Advising the NZSIS of decisions and changes
Your organisation must tell the NZSIS about every decision and change you make to the status of a clearance. You must tell them whenever a clearance is:
Your organisation’s CSO or delegate must tell vetting candidates about their right to complain. A vetting candidate has the right to complain to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security if they’re unhappy with:
Complaints must be in writing.
Address for complaints
Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security
c/- The Registrar of the High Court of New Zealand
DX SX 11199
Wellington
More information
PER016
A clearance holder’s manager must communicate with them clearly to set the right expectations for their role. The clearance holder must understand your organisation’s security policies and practices, and be aware of them when they change.
Your organisation must provide security awareness training/briefings to clearance holders at the time the clearance is granted, and at least every five years. The five years is a condition of re-validating the clearance holder’s clearance. The briefings should detail the clearance holders’ responsibilities.
A clearance holder needs to understand and acknowledge the specific responsibilities they have as a national security clearance holder. Their manager should clarify with them if their continued employment is conditional on them maintaining a clearance to the appropriate level.
Ways to ensure awareness and education include:
To help set expectations from the start, clearance holders should know that they will be evaluated regularly because their suitability to hold a clearance can change over time.
When you receive a vetting recommendation from the NZSIS with specific recommendations (‘qualifications’) for security risk management, you must establish a security risk management plan with the clearance holder and provide a copy of the plan to the NZSIS.
Types of briefings that may be given to people when they start, or for specific purposes, include:
PER017
Your organisation must consider personnel security throughout a national security clearance holder’s employment. While recruitment and departure processes offer clear opportunities to manage the risks associated with a clearance holder, the most challenging and critical stage of the personnel security lifecycle is managing the clearance holder throughout their employment.
Your organisation must help clearance holders meet their responsibilities and ensure they remain suitable to hold a clearance. To meet these responsibilities:
Publish clear communications about security
Your organisation must ensure clearance holders have access to clear policies and procedures that:
Provide security awareness training and updates
You can help a clearance holder meet their responsibilities by providing security awareness updates and training. Training should take place at least once a year.
Conduct security briefings when necessary
You should conduct additional security briefings or debriefings with clearance holders when appropriate.
For more information about security briefings, see: Set the right expectations.
Prepare clearance holders for international travel
When clearance holders travel overseas for work or personal reasons, they risk being targeted by foreign intelligence services with the capability and intent to target New Zealand interests.
Clearance holders may be of interest to foreign intelligence services for several reasons, including New Zealand’s:
Remember that your clearance holders could be exposed to the same risks in New Zealand at conferences or while hosting international delegations.
Your organisation is responsible for managing any risks with international travel and ensuring that you give travel briefings for work-related trips.
To help prepare clearance holders for travel, make sure they read the following guide: Advice for New Zealand Government officials travelling overseas for business. [PDF, 1.1 MB]
When to report clearance holders international travel plans
If a clearance holder holds Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) briefings, they’ll need additional approval to travel to specified countries.
For further advice contact: psr@protectivesecurity.govt.nz
Make sure your organisations clearance holders report any significant change in their personal circumstances, so you can check whether it affects their trustworthiness and their ability to retain a clearance.
For further guidance on assessing a clearance holder’s continued suitability if a security incident, change in personal circumstance, or HR issue is reported, refer to the following guidance: Assessing and acting on changes in a clearance holder’s circumstances [PDF, 141 KB].
What ‘significant change’ means
The following changes in a clearance holder’s circumstances are significant and must be reported to your organisation’s chief security officer (CSO).
Reporting significant changes to your CSO
Your clearance holders must immediately report any significant change in their personal circumstances to your CSO and to their manager (when relevant). This reporting requirement helps to mitigate any possible conflicts of interest.
If your CSO is unsure whether a change in personal circumstances has significant implications for the holder’s clearance, they should seek advice.
For advice, contact: psr@protectivesecurity.govt.nz
If other people in your organisation become aware of a significant change in a clearance holder’s circumstances — a change that may affect their suitability to retain a clearance or uphold your organisation’s security standards — they should report the change to your CSO.
Recognising and assessing a significant change in circumstance
When you know about a change in circumstance early on, it usually makes it easier to deal with the issue and prevent it from becoming a security concern. You can then reduce the risks to the clearance holder and your organisation.
What to do when your organisation is aware of a significant change
When a significant change in circumstance is identified or reported, your organisation must conduct a risk assessment based on whether the clearance holder can continue to hold a clearance. If you have doubts about continuing the clearance, your organisation should suspend or cancel it until the risk is mitigated or assessed as no longer present.
When your organisation must notify the NZSIS of a significant change
When a change in circumstance is considered significant or likely to present a risk to national security, your organisation must notify NZSIS vetting.
The NZSIS may consider it necessary for your organisation to submit a new vetting request for the clearance holder. If the NZSIS is satisfied that the clearance holder remains suitable to retain a clearance, then it will make a positive recommendation. The risk management advice may include specific measures your organisation must take.
A clearance holder must report any suspicious contacts or requests to access your organisation’s classified information, assets, or work locations to their CSO.
Instances of suspicious contacts or requests include, but are not limited to, contact with:
Completing a suspicious contact report
Your clearance holders should complete a contact report when an official or social contact appears suspicious, ongoing, persistent, or unusual (SOUP) in any respect. This contact could be with:
Contact reporting form [PDF, 275 KB].
Assessing a suspicious contact report
Your organisation should assess all suspicious contact reports to work out whether you need to:
Sometimes a clearance holder’s suspicious contacts may be of a criminal or business nature that involves a conflict of interest or gives a potential unfair advantage. Your organisation should have a clear process to investigate these contacts and, if appropriate, notify appropriate authorities for further investigation (for example, NZ Police, Serious Fraud Office).
For information on managing emergency access, go to: Manage their security clearance
For information on reporting changes, go to: Manage their security clearance
While the vetting process for a clearance gives your organisation a certain level of assurance about a person’s suitability to hold a clearance, that assurance only applies to the time when vetting took place — it doesn’t guarantee future suitability. For that reason, if you’re the organisation sponsoring the clearance, you need to:
To support your organisation manage the ongoing suitability of national security clearance holders, annual security appraisal forms (ASAF) are available.
ASAF for national security clearance holders [PDF, 689 KB] – Send this form to clearance holders to complete upon their anniversary or a date determined by the organisation.
ASAF for managers of national security clearance holders [PDF, 1.1 MB] – Send this form to line managers to complete upon receiving a completed form from the national security clearance holder.
ASAF for security teams or chief security officer [PDF, 599 KB] – This form is for security teams to use to review both the completed forms above. Use it to assess any concerns, or identify the need to implement management plans for clearance holders.
Use these forms in their editable PDF version or use word versions to adapt to your organisations’ requirements.
If your organisation no longer has the necessary assurance, remember that you can review, suspend, cancel, or withdraw a clearance at any stage.
PER018
Managing a national security clearance holder includes monitoring any concerning behaviour, reporting and responding to security incidents involving them, managing their emergency access to information, assets, or work locations, and managing changes to their security clearance level.
You also need to understand what’s involved with reviewing, extending, sharing (leveraging), or transferring a clearance.
If you’re managing a clearance holder, you must monitor their behaviour for any concerns to do with security, poor performance, or unacceptable conduct. Monitoring also means watching for any signs that could suggest the person is unreliable or susceptible to pressure. Pay particular attention if the clearance holder:
A sense of perspective is required when considering these factors. And remember to act within your normal ‘duty of care’ responsibilities as a manager.
If you discover a behavioural issue, you must use your organisation’s tools and policies to identify, support, and manage the clearance holder through any resolution process.
Effectively managing security incidents and investigations is a basic part of good security.
Your organisation must keep records of all:
Provide details of clearance holders security breaches to the NZSIS
If you think a clearance holder has breached security, your chief security officer (CSO) needs to assess the situation and identify the response, which may include advising the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) or the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
Review for cause
A ‘review for cause’ is a review of a clearance holder when your organisation identifies security concerns that could affect their suitability to retain a clearance. The NZSIS carries out the review.
Your organisation can initiate a review for cause in response to any security concerns raised about a clearance holder.
Security concerns would normally relate to significant changes in the clearance holder’s personal circumstances, attitude, or behaviour.
Concerns about the clearance holder can come from:
Suspend access if necessary
If your organisation is investigating a clearance holder because of a security violation, your CSO should suspend their access to classified information, assets, or work locations until the investigation (which may include a review for cause) is complete.
Revoke a clearance if necessary
Regardless of any recommendation from a review for cause, your chief executive has the right to revoke a national security clearance if they consider the security concerns, breaches, or violations are too frequent or of a sufficiently serious nature.
More information
Sometimes an emergency may give rise to an urgent operational need for a clearance holder to access classified information, assets, or work locations above their clearance level. Your chief executive or their delegate can grant this. If the authority is delegated, it must be recorded in writing.
What ‘emergency access’ means
Emergency access means your organisation has confirmed an urgent and critical operational need for access to specific information, assets, or work locations and there is not enough time to complete vetting checks and grant a clearance at a higher level.
Emergency access must be:
Emergency access to sensitive compartment information (SCI) need to be approved by the GCSB.
*For example, if a clearance holder’s current clearance is CONFIDENTIAL, their manager (with a suitable clearance) may supervise them to view SECRET material while the emergency lasts.
Recording, briefing, and debriefing requirements
The manager must record that the emergency access has been granted and brief the clearance holder appropriately.
The clearance holder must acknowledge that their manager has briefed them before being granted access. Your organisation should record this acknowledgement in writing.
Your organisation must also debrief the clearance holder when the emergency ends.
Limits to using emergency access
You must not use emergency access to grant a clearance holder access:
You must not grant emergency access to information, assets, or work locations marked CONFIDENTIAL or higher to anyone who does not hold a clearance.
Sometimes a clearance holder’s clearance level or status will change. Your organisation’s CSO must tell the NZSIS whenever a clearance is:
Review clearances after 5 years
A national security clearance expires after 5 years (or sooner if your organisation has granted it for a shorter term) or when the clearance holder leaves their employment.
The clearance holder’s manager is responsible for managing the process to ensure the clearance continues, even if the clearance level changes.
Renewing a clearance
To renew a clearance, your CSO must first assess the clearance holder’s ongoing suitability to hold a clearance. If the assessment result is positive, the CSO can submit a security vetting request to the NZSIS and they review the clearance.
Your CSO must have trust and confidence in the clearance holder’s ability to gain a favourable recommendation from the NZSIS before they submit a security vetting request. To make such an assessment, your CSO must exercise their own judgement and view all information available to them objectively.
Your organisation should initiate a renewal of a clearance by the NZSIS early enough to maintain continuity of the clearance unless the person:
Your organisation may extend a clearance for up to 6 months at a time, up to a total of 12 months.
The renewal process won’t be complete before the clearance expires
This clearance can’t be extended again because it has reached its maximum extension time of 12 months.
The clearance expires before the end of a contract
A clearance is due to expire but the clearance holder’s contract runs for 3 weeks beyond the expiry date. The clearance holder doesn’t need a clearance after their contract ends, so instead of renewing the clearance, you extend it for 1 month.
You want to extend a clearance for a second time
Your clearance holder has their clearance extended for 1 month by their sponsoring organisation. Later on, the sponsoring organisation extends the clearance for another 6 months. These two extensions add up to 7 months, so the organisation has 5 months left for any further extension(s) out of the 12-month total.
Rules to remember
Your organisation can only grant an extension before a clearance expires and if there are no qualifications on the clearance.
You must complete your own due diligence to ensure the clearance holder is suitable for having their clearance extended.
You must continue to manage the clearance holder throughout the duration of the extension.
If the clearance is shared with another organisation (leveraged), you must review the sharing arrangement before you extend the clearance. Once a clearance has been extended, you must notify the other organisation.
Your organisation might be able to transfer a clearance from a sponsoring organisation to yours. To do this, the clearance needed for the role the person is moving to must be at the same or lower level than the clearance the person already holds.
Government organisations can’t grant a clearance at a higher level without first receiving a vetting recommendation from the NZSIS.
For more about transferring a clearance, go to: Manage their departure.
Share (leverage) a clearance
If your organisation is planning to work with or second a clearance holder sponsored by another organisation, you may be able to use that clearance instead of getting a new one.
This situation may arise when a clearance holder’s time is shared between organisations.
Both organisations need to consider whether the risks are acceptable before agreeing to a sharing arrangement.
Your joint responsibilities
If you agree to share a clearance, both organisations must:
Sponsoring organisation’s responsibilities
Managing sharing arrangements — example scenarios
A clearance holder has contracts with different organisations
A clearance holder has two contracts at the same time with different organisations and requires a clearance for each job.
The clearance holder works 1 day a week at Organisation A and 4 days a week at Organisation B.
The two organisations agree that Organisation B should be the sponsoring organisation and Organisation A will share the clearance for the 1 day a week they have the clearance holder working with them. Organisation A knows to let Organisation B know of any change in circumstance during the contract.
A clearance holder is going on a short-term secondment
Organisation A sponsors the clearance holder and agrees to a short-term secondment to Organisation B. Both organisations agree to share the clearance for the duration of the secondment.
When the secondment ends, Organisation A cancels the sharing arrangement.
When the person has a current clearance from another country
If you want to work with someone with a security clearance from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, or the USA, get in touch with the NZSIS security vetting team to discuss the situation.
Upgrade to a higher clearance level when necessary
If the tasks or duties of a job change to the extent that a clearance holder needs to have access to information, assets, or work locations classified at a higher level than their current clearance, they must undergo security vetting at that higher level.
Your organisation will need to:
Downgrading to a lower clearance level when necessary
A clearance holder may move to a new role that requires a lower level of clearance. This could be a permanent or temporary move. Alternatively, your organisation may decide that a person should have a lower clearance level. In these cases, a manager needs to confirm whether the lower clearance level will affect the clearance holder’s employment agreement and how. Get HR or legal advice if you need it.
Later on, if you need the clearance holder to carry out duties at a higher clearance level, you can allow them to as long as:
Withdraw access when a clearance is not granted, or until any review or appeal process is completed
See the following sections for more information on withdrawing access or handling review or appeal processes correctly.
Related links
PER019
When a national security clearance holder leaves, they retain their knowledge of your organisation’s business operations, intellectual property, classified information, and security vulnerabilities. Managing their departure well will help to reduce the risk of this knowledge being misused.
When a clearance holder leaves an organisation, their manager must carry out the minimum departure requirements for an employee and some extra requirements. For more information about minimum departure requirements, go to: Manage their departure.
They must also:
An appropriately authorised person may have to:
*When authorised by the SCI owner, a suitable person may debrief the clearance holder. If no one in the CSO’s team is authorised to do the debrief, the CSO or security team should contact the PSR team for advice.
Contact: psr@protectivesecurity.govt.nz
The clearance holder’s manager must remind the clearance holder of:
It is good practice to obtain the clearance holder’s written acknowledgement of these obligations.
If a clearance holder is transferring directly to another government organisation, their clearance may transfer with them. In general, one organisation should recognise a security clearance granted by another organisation as long as the correct transfer process has been followed.
Accepting a clearance transfer
The chief executive of the new organisation may accept a transfer of a security clearance from another organisation. This action will happen immediately, provided the following conditions are met:
Signing a confidentiality agreement or post-separation contract
Your organisation may need the clearance holder to sign a confidentiality agreement as part of their transfer. This action is to protect any classified information, assets, and work locations they may discuss as part of their new role. They may also need to sign a post-separation contract with your organisation.
Managing briefings for SCI
Remember that SCI briefings don't transfer. The clearance holder must be debriefed from the organisation they're currently in before they are transferred. They must also be briefed into the organisation they're transferring to if they’ll be accessing SCI.
Notifying the NZSIS when you transfer a security clearance
Your organisation must notify the NZSIS when the security clearance transfer has occurred.
When the transferred clearance expires
The transferred national security clearance will stop 5 years from the date of the original recommendation, or from when the original organisation granted the clearance.
When a clearance holder leaves your organisation, you should cancel their clearance and notify the NZSIS that you no longer employ the clearance holder.