Legislation has been introduced in the Senate to increase oversight of the security clearance process following disclosures made by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden on the government’s intelligence gathering practices.
Introduced by Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the Security Clearance Oversight and Reform Enhancement Act also would give OPM a framework to terminate employees and debar contractors involved in misconduct affecting the integrity of security clearance background investigations.
The bill comes out of a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing that revealed the contractor that conducted Snowden’s background check is under investigation.
Johnson called the security clearance process "broken" and inconsistent, while McCaskill questioned the use of private contractors to do the bulk of background investigations, a practice she says is a "national security threat."
