Government operations and workforce

Executive Order 13741: Amending Executive Order 13467 To Establish the Roles and Responsibilities of the National Background Investigations Bureau and Related Matters

President: Barack Obama

Created the National Background Investigations Bureau and clarified roles across federal suitability, credentialing and security-clearance systems.

Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13741 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13741 remains in effect. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13741 do?

EO 13741 amended EO 13467 to establish OPM’s National Background Investigations Bureau as the primary executive-branch investigations provider while preserving OPM and intelligence-community executive-agent roles. EO 13869 transferred NBIB’s investigative functions and personnel to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency in 2019. NBIB therefore ended, although other amendments to the government-wide vetting framework remain part of EO 13467 as later changed.

Administration position: The order reorganized investigations; it did not guarantee a clearance or remove due process, privacy and adjudicative standards.
SignedSeptember 29, 2016
Created entityNational Background Investigations Bureau
Functions transferred2019 to DCSA

Before and after

Before the order

OPM’s Federal Investigative Services and fragmented policies handled most background investigations.

After the order

NBIB briefly centralized service delivery before Defense assumed the mission.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
OPM and NBIBConduct background investigationsTransferred
Defense and DCSAOperate the investigation serviceContinuing
Security and suitability executive agentsMaintain standards and reciprocityContinuing under amended framework

What happened next

EO 13741 established NBIB roles.

EO 13869 ordered transfer to Defense.

DCSA assumed the background-investigation mission.