The Department of Defense has a backlog of personnel
security clearance requests at around 360,000 that
stands to increase the cost of classified government
work and reduce DoD’s ability to develop accurate
budgetary and staffing plans, and define, measure and
anticipate future requests, the General Accounting
Office has said.
It said high volumes of new requests and the lack of
a strategic plan to work around hurdles in the way of
getting essential information prevent DoD from
accurately estimating the size of the backlog and
chipping away at it.
DoD’s plans to transfer its investigative functions
and personnel to the Office of Personnel Management
stalled in December 2003 because DoD had not provided
Congress with necessary certifications to do so, and
because OPM is hesitant to commit to uncertain
financial risks associated with taking on the
responsibility.
As an alternative, GAO said DoD and OPM are in
discussions about keeping investigative staff in the
Defense Security Service and training them to use
OPM’s case management system, which one DoD official
estimated could save $100 million in update and
maintenance costs over five years.
GAO recommended that DoD address the problem
systematically, first by devoting more manpower to it,
then coming up with a strategic plan, developing
standard backlog vocabulary, measures and reports,
and completing work on its investigative Joint
Personnel Adjudication System.