Session scoped Seam component calls PortalIdentity.instance().getPrincipal() which returns null. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Key: JBPORTAL-2461 URL: https://jira.jboss.org/jira/browse/JBPORTAL-2461 Project: JBoss Portal Issue Type: Bug Security Level: Public(Everyone can see) Reporter: Gary Hu In a session scoped Seam component the following call returns null value: PortalIdentity.instance().getPrincipal(); The further investigation shows that the above call is dependent upon the availability of FacesContext. However, FacesContext.getCurrentInstance() returns null in this case.