ABSTRACT
The role of background investigations in the world of private security and its investigative arm ranks in the higher echelon of duties and responsibilities. A failure to conduct properly opens up the liability floodgates, triggers potential economic losses, and even poses threats to our national security. In 2013, a subcontractor for the United States government named Edward Snowden leaked classified information from the National Security Agency. Quickly following this security breach, the United States Congress launched two federal inquiries into what background investigation practices were being used that would let a person such as Snowden “slip through.” What they found was that contractors like Snowden were not scrutinized to the same degree as regular government employees. Therefore, ironically, Snowden’s intent to expose the government’s surveillance systems actually provided the impetus for increased government scrutiny of new and ongoing background investigations 1 and in many ways increased the profile and importance of background investigations worldwide.
