I__. - International Military Testing Association

Problem and Background
A MEASURE OF BEHAVIORAL RELIABILITY
FOR MARINE SECURITY GUARDS
Janis S. Houston
Personnel Decisions Research Institutes
Martin F. Wiskoff
BDM International, Inc.
and
Forrest Sherman
Marine Security Guard Battalion
The United States Marine Corps provides security guard services to meet the Department
of State requirements at Foreign Service posts throughout the world. This use of Marines
as security guards at Embassies, Legations, and Consulates was initiated in 1948 by a
formal Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of State and the Secretary
of the Navy. The primary mission of the Marine Security Guards is to protect the
personnel, property, and classified and administratively controlled material and equipment
within these premises.
There are approximately 1300 Marine Security Guards (MSGs) currently serving at 140
foreign posts in over 100 countries. These detachments range in size from five to thirtyeight
Marines, and each is commanded by a senior non-commissioned officer, referred to
as the “Detachment Commander”.
The work described here was the fourth phase of a research effort undertaken jointly by
the Marine Security Guard Battalion and the Defense Personnel Security Research and
Education Center. Prior phases of this effort focused on improving the procedures used
for pre-screening and selecting Marines for MSG duty, and are described in Parker,
Wiskoff, McDaniel, Zimmerman, and Sherman (1989) and in Wiskoff, Parker, Zimmerman,
and Sherman (1989).
Obiective
The primary objective of this work was to develop a system for the continuing evaluation
(CVAL) of MSG performance and behavioral reliability. As has been pointed out
(DuBois, Bosshardt, and Crawford, 1990), recent espionage cases suggest that individuals
become spies as a result of personal and situational factors that occur after they receive
personnel security clearances and are performing in sensitive or high security risk
jobs. The importance of having a continuing assessment program for MSGs, in addition
to the very careful selection procedures, was highlighted in December 1986, when Sgt.
Lonetree admitted to providing information to the Soviet Union while serving in
Moscow as an MSG.
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