I__. - International Military Testing Association

The final analysis looked at the utility of the
scoring keys as defined as a reduced risk of:
(a) having a security clearance denied to an individual
who has been assigned to a sensitive duty position
and (b) assigning unreliable individuals to sensitive
duty positions. The utility was evaluated by first
establishing cutoff scores and then determining what
the impact would have been if the empirical keys and
cutoff scores had been used in prescreening.
The goal, in setting the cutoff scores, was to
screen out individuals with low scores on the empirical
keys and yet fulfill existing manpower requirements. In
this sample, 19% of the non-prior service male
applicants were rejected in the prescreening
adjudication phase. Thus, cutoff scores were
established for the three scoring keys at the point
closest to the 19%/81% split. 2
Empirical
Scorinq Key
Prescreening
Adjudication
score
Below
cutoff
Issue Case Status Below
cutoff
Type of Discharge
Regression model
with Type of
Discharge
Below
cutoff
Above
cutoff
Below
cutoff
Above
cutoff
Table2
impact of Using Cutoff Scores on the Issue Case
and Unsuitability Dkharge Rates
Table 2 shows the impact of using the three keys
in terms of reducing the issue case and unsuitability
discharge rates. The base rate for issue cases in this
sample was 8.0% The percentages of issue cases
above the cutoff was lower than the base rate for all
three keys, with the issue case status key showing the
lowest percentage (5.3%). Thus, the issue case rate
could be reduced by approximately three percentage
points by using this key. Analysis of DCII data
revealed that 289 of the non-prior service males who
entered high security occupations in the Army in 1984
became classified as issue cases. Thus, approximately
98 of these individuals would not have been allowed
into high security occupations if the issue case status
scoring key and its cutoff had been used for
prescreening.
Issue Case Status Tvoe of Discharqe
Percent Percent Percent Percent
w No Issue Unsuitable Normal
25.9 74.1 11.5 88.5
5.6 94.4 14.0 86.0
22.2 77.8 9.4 90.6
5.3 94.7 14.5 85.5
16.1 83.9 24.4 75.6
6.7 93.3 11.7 88.3
28.0 72.0
10.4 89.6
Base Rate 8.0 92.0 13.5 86.5
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