Criminal checks

Although the primary goal of this blog is to provide serious and in-depth articles, every now and then we enjoy taking a look at the more bizarre side of criminal background checks. NASA recently had a rare intersection with our world when astronaut Lisa Nowak was charged with attempted murder after allegedly assaulting romatic rival Colleen Shipman. The story rapidly spread in national headlines, as it contained all the Fatal Attraction elements: a married woman obsessed with another man, violent female rage, and a long drive using a diaper so that rest stops would not be necessary. The details are better found elsewhere but this raised the question for us, how does NASA handle its employee screening?

Whatever they are doing must be reasonably effective. According to NASA this is the first time that an active-duty astronaut has been charged with a felony. The agency is currently implementing a security upgrade that will require all employees to have a NACI background investigation, also known as a National Agency Check with Inquiries. This is an very extensive background check that starts with a check of various government databases such as the FBI […]