What process evaluates personnel security investigations to determine if an individual should be granted or retain eligibility for access to classified information?

• A. Adjudication
• B. Adjudicator
• C. Administrative Inquiry
• D. Adverse Information

Answer: (A)

Adjudication is the decision-making step that follows a personnel security investigation. It uses established guidelines to weigh all information gathered about a person—trustworthiness, reliability, potential risks, and mitigating factors—to decide whether they should be granted or retain eligibility for access to classified information. The process considers how the information might affect security risk and concludes with an outcome such as granting clearance, granting with conditions, or denying/removing clearance. An adjudicator is the person who applies these guidelines to render the decision. Administrative Inquiry is a separate fact-finding activity used to collect information, while adverse information refers to the negative items that can influence the determination. The key point is that the evaluation and final access decision come through adjudication.