The National Industrial Security Program, or NISP, is the nominal authority in the United States for managing the needs of private industry to access classified information.[1]
The NISP was established in 1993 by Executive Order 12829.[2] The National Security Council nominally sets policy for the NISP, while the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office is nominally the authority for implementation. Under the ISOO, the Secretary of Defense is nominally the Executive Agent, but the NISP recognizes four different Cognizant Security Agencies, all of which have equal authority: the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.[3]
Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency administers the NISP on behalf of the Department of Defense and 34 other federal agencies.