Delay and dysfunction in the personnel security clearance system are an old story, and the Government Accountability Office has been describing and updating that story for at least two decades, including new congressional testimony today (pdf) focusing on Department of Defense (DOD) contractors.
“DOD is responsible for about 2.5 million security clearances issued to servicemembers, DOD civilians, and industry personnel who work on contracts for DOD and 23 other federal agencies.”
“GAO’s analysis of timeliness data showed that industry personnel contracted to work for the federal government waited more than 1 year on average to receive top secret clearances, longer than OMB- and OPM-produced statistics would suggest.”
See “DoD Personnel Clearances: Delays and Inadequate Documentation Found for Industry Personnel,” [GAO-07-842T], May 17, 2007.
May 19th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Speed of clearances is only one factor, and the least important one at that, as this press release from CFSOs points out:
PRESS RELEASE FROM CONCERNED FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS
Washington DC, May 18, 2007
For Immediate Release
Contact Concerned Foreign Service Officers: info@worldcrafters.com
CONCERNED FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS STATEMENT ON RECENT DS AWARDS (MSWord file)
People who work with computers use the term GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) to refer to the fact that an automated information management system is only as good as the information programmed into it. This is especially important with a system whose purpose is merely to store and transmit information, rather than processing it. The State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) recently received an IT Leadership Award from Government Computer News, for innovation in the use of automation to facilitate the security clearance process. This is the second award that the State Department has received for this process (it also received an OPM Guardian Award) and is touted by DS as evidence that the State Department’s security clearance process is among the best. Concerned Foreign Service Officers (www.worldcrafters.com) begs to differ.
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