Administration officials have not been specific regarding when they plan to make fully effective the recently announced policy of routinely examining an individual’s social media postings as part of background investigations for new or renewed security clearances, although they have cited as a first step a pilot project that OPM expects to start in the fall.
That will address issues such as when in the checking process such searches should be made, whether the costs can be reduced, whether conducting the searches will slow down the overall process, and how useful such information proves to be upon further investigation. OPM has not specified how extensive that project will be or how long it will run.
Several more limited pilot programs already have been conducted or are underway at defense and intelligence agencies. Two of those whose results have been made public turned up information that was deemed to be worth following up in around 10-20 percent of the cases.
Both recommended making those searches a regular part of background checks, although adding that the results of the searches in and of themselves didn’t warrant disqualifying anyone for a clearance.
Officials said at a recent House hearing that the program will evolve over time, with the OPM pilot program providing a roadmap. Some members of the committee raised the prospect of expanding the policy to require that employees being investigated disclose any aliases they use in online postings; the policy as issued does not require that. Officials said such a requirement could be one such change, but not soon.
