Coffee & Conversation with Matt Eanes

Kicking off the program, Mr. Eanes discussed his views on personal vetting reform highlighting that it is a complex, whole-of-government problem that provides an opportunity to make a huge impact. Although personal vetting is a support function, he emphasized that it impacts every person who works for or on behalf of the U.S. government. Since 400,000 people are vetted each year, speeding up this process by just 5 days would give back the equivalent of 2 million days to the mission.  

Mr. Eanes then delved into the government’s transition from a periodic vetting process to a continuous vetting process, which will ensure a differentiated vetting process for ‘newcomers’ who are entering government service for the first time as opposed to ‘trusted insiders’ re-entering government service or switching between agencies. The continuous vetting model will also improve the mobility of the workforce and is designed to mitigate risks and enable faster interventions.  

Mr. Eanes also discussed the ongoing implementation of Trusted Workforce 2.0, which he described as an initiative to enable trusted people to reenter service or change jobs more quickly. Now in its third phase of implementation, the initiative focuses on reducing the time needed for the vetting process and enhancing mobility for trusted workers.

Closing out the program Mr. Eanes encouraged members of the workforce who seek to stay informed on the rollout of Trusted Workforce 2.0 to check out the dedicated page on performance.gov.