The Department of Veterans Affairs relies on a trusted workforce to care for Veterans and safeguard VA facilities and information. At the center of that effort is the Office of Personnel Vetting (OPV), situated within VA’s Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP).
Led by Executive Director Mark Pekrul, the OPV team oversees the vetting of VA employees, contractors and other affiliated personnel, helping ensure that those who work for or in support of the VA can be trusted with access to facilities, systems, sensitive data and Veterans themselves.
Q: Mr. Pekrul, can you tell us a little about your background and what brought you to VA?
A: I’ve spent my entire career in the personnel vetting (PV) mission space. Before coming to VA in 2025, I served for seven years at the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) as the Deputy Assistant Director for Customer and Stakeholder Engagement, where I helped coordinate PV work with more than 100 federal agencies, industry partners and countless state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies.
Before that, I spent nearly a decade as the Department of Energy’s personnel security policy program manager. I’ve contributed to the development of national PV policies, served as an adjudicator, and began my career as an investigator conducting background investigations.
The VA’s mission is the most noble of any Federal agency and I knew the opportunity to enhance the VA’s PV program would be a great opportunity.
Q: What is your role now as the OPV Executive Director?
A: I oversee PV operations—personnel security, suitability and fitness and Personal Identification Verification (PIV) credentialing—for all VA employees, contractors and other affiliated personnel.
I lead a team of nearly 100 professionals who collectively support our Veterans by helping ensure that the people granted access to VA facilities, information, personnel and Veterans themselves are worthy of the trust placed in them.
Since coming into this role, my focus has been on strengthening alignment, accountability and transparency in our PV mission, and on partnering with the various administrations and staff offices to make VA a model in this area that other agencies will want to emulate.
Q: Many people may not know what Personnel Vetting is. How do you describe it in plain language?
A: Every Federal employee, contractor and military service member must be vetted to a degree, and against standards, prescribed by national authorities. In other words, everyone we work with here at the VA is subject to a background investigation of some kind.
The type of position one holds, the duties that position encumbers, and potential risks posed by someone in that position all factor in determining what level of background investigation they will be subject to.
Currently there are 5 tiers or levels of investigation, ranging from Tier 1 for positions considered Low Risk to Tier 5 for people with access to Top Secret information. Tier 1 is also the minimum required level of investigation for issuance of a PIV credential.
Once the required background investigation has been completed, an adjudication process occurs, weighing all available information and determining whether or not a person will be permitted to assume or to continue in their position serving the VA and Veterans.
Contrary to what I think is a widely held misconception, the vast majority of determinations are favorable to the individual.
Q: Where does OPV fit in the larger VA organization and security picture?
A: OPV is one of three offices within OSP. The other offices are the Office of Security and Law Enforcement (OSLE), overseeing VA’s Police force, and the Office of Operations, Mission Assurance, and Readiness (OMAR), managing the VA’s Insider Threat, Counterintelligence and Continuity of Operations programs.
Until the fall of 2025, OSP was joined with the Office of Human Resources Administration. In the Fall of 2025, OSP gained its own Assistant Secretary, Mr. Reginald Neal.
Q: What are the main OPV programs that VA employees and contractors are most likely to encounter?
A: The PIV credential management program is the first step in the process. VA personnel must possess a PIV credential to work here. Within VA’s Central Office, the process of PIV issuance is carried out in our badging office on C level at 810 Vermont Ave NW in DC. Otherwise, it’s at one of 240 other VA locations nationwide. OPV’s credential management program runs the VACO operation and is responsible for oversight of the other 240. Your PIV card provides you with the physical and systems access you need to do your job and is issued only after your identity has been verified and other checks have been conducted.
Second step in the process is the background investigation. Employees or applicants complete an on-line questionnaire maintained by DCSA. Once completed, the forms are reviewed and, unless corrections are required, are sent to DCSA, the organization that actually conducts your investigation. When DCSA completes its work, they send us a report, and then PV staff use it to decide on your suitability for Federal employment, fitness for contractor or affiliate employment, or eligibility for access to classified information or to hold a national security position. The standards against which these decisions are made, again, are established outside of the VA and are applicable to all Federal personnel across the government.
Suitability determinations are generally made by the employing administration, while fitness and national security determinations are made at OPV’s Personnel Security Adjudications Facility (PSAC) located on the VA campus in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Historically, suitability determinations have only applied to applicants, not incumbent employees. If a serious matter was raised concerning an employee, we would defer to human resources or employee relations for applicable employment action. The Office of Personnel Management recently updated applicable regulations, such that if a suitability concern arises regarding an employee, the agency may refer the case to OPM for a suitability determination.
Q: Why is personnel vetting so important for VA and for Veterans?
A: Veterans entrust us with their health and safety, their personal information and, in many cases, their lives. To honor that trust, we have a duty to ensure that the individuals permitted to perform these duties are themselves trustworthy.
Beyond protecting the Veterans themselves, VA, as the largest health care provider in the U.S., possesses an enormous amount of health care data, research and development information and other resources that must be guarded against improper access and misuse.
PV’s sole purpose is to provide these protections.
Q: How do you work with other parts of VA, such as HR offices and contracting officers?
A: We work daily with HRA and the administrations and staff Offices to ensure the PV mission is functioning effectively and efficiently, to identify any gaps or weaknesses, ensuring VA is meeting all applicable national PV standards, and to look for ways to enhance the protection of the Veterans and our agency.
Q: What are your priorities for OPV in the near term?
A: When I interviewed for this position, I said that I believe the VA can become the model agency for PV mission execution. I still believe that, and my long-term goal is to get us there.
I am happy to say that we are already viewed as a leader in a number of areas by our Federal partners and overseers, that we remain an active participant in efforts to modernize and improve the Federal vetting enterprise, and that we have a dedicated and enthusiastic team of PV professionals that work every day across the country in service to the Veterans and VA.
By Kurt M. Rauschenberg, VA Public Affairs Specialist