Executive Order 13467 established alignment and reciprocity of what?

• A. Alignment refers to the consistent standards and methods that are employed across all federal agencies to ensure that all federal employees receive equal treatment regardless of which agency conducts the adjudication.
• B. The goal is to align budgets across agencies.
• C. To standardize job classifications across the federal service.
• D. Alignment and reciprocity of fair treatment of all federal employees and prevent costly duplication of effort across agencies.

Answer: (D)

The main idea is alignment and reciprocity in how federal agencies treat personnel decisions, ensuring fair treatment across agencies and avoiding duplicative work. Executive Order 13467 was aimed at creating a more uniform approach to suitability and security adjudications across the federal government, so that one agency’s favorable determination can be recognized by others (reciprocity) and so standards and methods are consistently applied (alignment). This reduces redundant investigations and reviews while maintaining consistent, fair outcomes for federal employees. The other options miss the focus on cross-agency fairness and shared standards; they pertain to budgets or job classifications, which are not what this order targets.