Subcommittee chairman George Voinovich, R-Ohio, cited the
sheer size of the backlog, an influx of new requests since
September of 2001, and a lack of an overall strategic plan
for managing the process as barriers to streamlining investigations.
However, Springer said OPM intends to meet requirements in
the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004
such as a 90-day limit for completing investigations, as
well as other enhancements by following a plan developed
together with the Office of Management and Budget and major
clearance-granting agencies across government,
Clay Johnson, III, OMB Deputy Director for Management, said
the Plan for Improving the Personnel Security Clearance
Process details individual areas of responsibility and actions.
Johnson said that by the end of this year, a single
consolidated security clearance database within OPM’s
jurisdiction would be established to allow authorized users
to track who has what clearances.
Further, he said by December of next year, 80 percent of
investigations would meet the 90-day time limit if enough
information is made available, and that adjudications would
be completed within 30 days of receipt.
In February 2004 GAO estimated that the DoD clearance
backlog was roughly 270,000 investigations and 90,000
adjudications. The year before it estimated that it took
DoD an average of 375 days to process clearances for
private sector contracting positions.
Voinovich stated, “it is unrealistic to assume that the
best and brightest applicants are going to wait over one
year to receive a government clearance so that they can
begin their jobs.”
Last year he offered an amendment to the intelligence
reform legislation in committee to require reciprocity
of security clearances in order to streamline the process
of transferring employees from one agency to another.
Johnson said OMB was committed to enforcing the
longstanding policies that require agencies to honor
existing security clearances except under extraordinary
circumstances.
The OMB official also said the keys to improving the
effectiveness and efficiency of the security clearance
process include monitoring the performance of responsible
investigative and adjudicative agencies, and accountability
for achieving mutually set goals – and that OMB and OPM
plan to achieve the security clearance goals of the
intelligence bill with better use of current methodologies
and technologies.
