((a)) ** .—**
((1)) The Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Security Executive Agent established pursuant to Executive Order 13467 (73 Fed. Reg. 38103; 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.
((2)) The Secretary shall ensure that the standards developed under paragraph (1) are consistent with relevant directives of the Security Executive Agent.
((3)) The Secretary shall designate an official of the Department of Defense to be responsible for executing the centralized process developed under paragraph (1) and adjudicating any information discovered pursuant to such process.
((b)) ** .—** 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 security 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)) ** .—** In this section, the term “covered foreign individual” means an individual who meets the following criteria:
((1)) The individual is—
((A)) a national of a foreign state;
((B)) a national of the United States (as such term is defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ()) 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 ()).
((2)) The individual is either—
((A)) a civilian employee of the Department of Defense or a contractor of the Department; or
((B)) a member of the armed forces.