NIST SP 800-53 PS-2 Position Risk Designation

Requirements NIST SOURCE

Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)

Position risk designations reflect Office of Personnel Management (OPM) policy and guidance. Proper position designation is the foundation of an effective and consistent suitability and personnel security program. The Position Designation System (PDS) assesses the duties and responsibilities of a position to determine the degree of potential damage to the efficiency or integrity of the service due to misconduct of an incumbent of a position and establishes the risk level of that position. The PDS assessment also determines if the duties and responsibilities of the position present the potential for position incumbents to bring about a material adverse effect on national security and the degree of that potential effect, which establishes the sensitivity level of a position. The results of the assessment determine what level of investigation is conducted for a position. Risk designations can guide and inform the types of authorizations that individuals receive when accessing organizational information and information systems. Position screening criteria include explicit information security role appointment requirements. Parts 1400 and 731 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, establish the requirements for organizations to evaluate relevant covered positions for a position sensitivity and position risk designation commensurate with the duties and responsibilities of those positions.

Implementation Guidance

Engineering Interpretation

Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.

No engineering interpretation has been authored for PS-2 yet. This section is architected to receive it — see the Requirements and Assessment sections above for the authoritative NIST source content in the meantime.

Assessment

NIST SP 800-53A REV 5.2.0

Assessment Objectives

the frequency at which to review and update position risk designations is defined;
a risk designation is assigned to all organizational positions;
screening criteria are established for individuals filling organizational positions;
position risk designations are reviewed and updated <PS-02_ODP frequency>.

Examine

[SELECT FROM: Personnel security policy; procedures addressing position categorization; appropriate codes of federal regulations; list of risk designations for organizational positions; records of position risk designation reviews and updates; system security plan; other relevant documents or records].

Interview

[SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel with personnel security responsibilities; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities].

Test

[SELECT FROM: Organizational processes for assigning, reviewing, and updating position risk designations; organizational processes for establishing screening criteria].

Overlays

OT/ICS Overlay SP 800-82r3

NIST SP 800-82r3 Appendix F, Table 22. Blank baseline means the control/control enhancement is not selected in that initial OT baseline.

LOW

Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)

MODERATE

Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)

HIGH

Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)

STIGs & CCIs

No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for PS-2. This section is architected to display, per product: STIG ID, Finding ID, Severity, Title, Description, Check, Fix, CCI, and NIST control mapping — but nothing is populated here until a real DISA STIG/CCI dataset is ingested.

Learn more about STIG/CCI integration →

Evidence

Potential Evidence — Derived

Categorized from the SP 800-53A "Examine"/"Test" artifact list above by keyword — not an authoritative NIST evidence list.

Policy

Personnel security policy
system security plan

Testing

Organizational processes for assigning, reviewing, and updating position risk designations
organizational processes for establishing screening criteria

Other Records

procedures addressing position categorization
appropriate codes of federal regulations
list of risk designations for organizational positions
records of position risk designation reviews and updates
other relevant documents or records