Page 2 - Ft. Irwin High Desert Warrior, Oct. 5 2018

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Security
High Desert Warrior October 5, 2018
www.aerotechnews.com/ntcfortirwin
WHO WE ARE
Brig. Gen. Jeff Broadwater
Commanding General
Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Lowe
Post CSM
Col. Seth Krummrich
Garrison Commander
Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Edwards Jr
Garrison CSM
Darryl Darden
Public Affairs Director
High Desert Warrior Staff
Ken Drylie, Associate Editor (760) 380-3303
Jason Miller, Staff Writer/Photographer
(760) 380-3073
Renita Wickes, Staff Writer/Photographer
(760) 380-3078
David Dupree, Staff Writer/Photographer
(760) 380-8917
Agustin Rodriguez, Editorial Assistant agustin.rodriguez1@us.army.mil
Aerotech News Emma Uribe, Graphic Designer
HigH Desert Warrior
High Desert Warrior, a civilian enterprise newspaper, is an authorized publication for members of the United States Army and Fort Irwin community. Contents of this newspaper are not necessarily official view of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, Department of the Army or Fort Irwin and the National Training Center. High Desert Warrior is prepared weekly by the Public Affairs Office, National Training Center and Fort Irwin, P.O. Box 105067, Fort Irwin, CA, 92310-5067. Telephone: 380-4511 or DSN 470-4511. FAX: 380-3075.
High Desert Warrior is a digital publication, distributed monthly on Facebook, www.facebook.com/HighDesertWarrior/ as well as emailed to base personnel It is produced at Aerotech News and Review, 220 East Avenue K-4 Suite 7, Lancaster, CA 93535, (661) 945-5634.
Aerotech News and Review is a private firm in no way connected with the Department of the Army and is responsible for the commercial advertising found in this publication. Everything advertised in this publication will be made available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national orientation, age, marital status, physical handicap or political affiliation of the purchaser, user or patron. A confirmed violation of this policy of equal opportunity by an advertiser will result in refusal to print advertising from that source. The appearance of advertisements in this publication does not constitute an endorsement by the Department of the Army of the products or services advertised.
Printed by Aerotech News and Review, Inc. (877) 247-9288, www.aerotechnews.com.
NEWSPAPER AWARDS
2nd Place, 2017 U.S. Army IMCOM
Newspaper Competition — Feature Photograph
Honorable Mention, 2009 U.S. Army IMCOM-West
Newspaper Competition — Tabloid category
3rd Place, 2008 Dept. of the Army
Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware Newspaper Competition — Tabloid Category
seND Us FeeDBaCK
Send your questions, suggestions, or problems to: 1. Your chain of command
2. ICE (Interactive Customer Evaluation)
3. CG’s Hotline: 380-5463
Major financial changes could affect your security clearance
by Tammy Fink and Saunci Barrett
Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
As of July 27, the Department of Defense will continuously monitor individuals’ secu- rity eligibility through the new Continuous Evaluation Program.
This new policy mandates that individuals who hold a security clearance will be con- tinuously evaluated to determine if they meet the requirements to maintain that clearance. The security clearance renewal, due every six to 10 years, is still in effect.
Since the start of this new policy, 1.1 million clearances have been enrolled and more than 38,000 cases have been flagged. Most individuals who are associated with the Armed Forces, whether they are military, civilian or contractors, know the process for acquiring a security clearance involves a vigorous background investigation.
One aspect of the Continuous Evalua- tion, or CE, process is monitoring credit reports, financial records and public docu- ments. No longer can you wait out the years in between renewals, making a few mistakes here or there with your finances. You must stay on top of your game 24/7, and keeping your finances in check is key.
At Financial Readiness, part of the Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, we assist service members and civilian em- ployees in working through any financial issue that may cause their security clearances
to be denied. All too often we see a roller coaster of financial instability and hardship. Generally, the financial well-being appears around the time a security clearance renewal is due, but then takes a downward turn to instability during the off years. This could be due to complacency -- letting down your guard and not monitoring your finances like you should.
The best way to ensure your financial well-being is to have a healthy debt-to- income ratio, or DTI. To calculate your debt to income ratio, visit www.calculator.net/ debt-ratio-calculator.html. Having a higher DTI ratio is one of the causes of financial instability.
Another cause of financial instability is due to individuals not checking their credit reports to ensure they are not victims of iden- tity theft or to simply check for inaccurate information. With all of the data breaches in the past few years, now is the time to be concerned about protecting your identity from thieves. Here are a few things you can do to protect your credit.
Start by pulling your credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com. Each credit bureau allows you to pull your credit report for free once a year. Do not pull all three reports at one time, but scatter them throughout the year. Once the report has been pulled, review it for inaccuracies and initiate disputes on any inaccurate informa- tion. If you need assistance, do not hesitate
to contact Financial Readiness for assistance with pulling, analyzing, filing disputes and cases of fraud.
Lastly, to help keep thieves out of your credit file, there are two things you can do to protect yourself. First, stop all prescreened offers from coming to you via mail. These are the many balance transfers or life insurance offers you receive in the mail, also known as junk mail.
Simply go to www.optoutprescreen.com to either opt out via internet for 5 years or in writing for a lifetime. This will stop unwanted mail and unwanted individuals from looking into your credit profile so they can offer you something you can easily research online.
Second, consider putting a freeze on your credit file. You may lift the freeze for short periods of time to extend credit for things like a home or automobile.
If you are an active-duty service member, you may place an “Active Duty” alert on your profile that requires a creditor to contact you first before following through with opening lines of credit in your name. The credit freeze is permanent until you lift it and an Active Duty alert is only good for one year; however, you can renew it every year.
Keep in mind, when it comes time to rrenew your security clearance, you will want to unfreeze your credit file for a minimum of 30 days. If you forget, your security manager may contact you to remind you to lift it.
For more information go to www.irwin.army.mil