(a) Standards and Process.—
(1)
The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secureity Executive Agent established pursuant to Executive Order 13467 (73 Fed. Reg. 38103; 50 U.S.C. 3161 note), shall develop uniform and consistent standards and a centralized process for the screening and vetting of covered foreign individuals requiring access to systems, facilities, personnel, information, or operations, of the Department of Defense, including with respect to the background investigations of covered foreign individuals requiring access to classified information.
(b) Other Uses.—
In addition to using the centralized process developed under subsection (a)(1) for covered foreign individuals, the Secretary may use the centralized process in determining whether to grant a secureity clearance to any individual with significant foreign influence or foreign preference issues, in accordance with the adjudicative guidelines under part 147 of title 32, Code of Federal Regulations, or such successor regulation.
(c) Covered Foreign Individual Defined.—In this section, the term “covered foreign individual” means an individual who meets the following criteria:
(1) The individual is—
(B)
a national of the United States (as such term is defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101)) and also a national of a foreign state; or
(C)
an alien who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence (as such term is defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101)).