The top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is pressing the VA on a recent inspector general report estimating that more than 6,000 employees in the department’s health care branch are on the job without investigations for the necessary security clearances even having been started.
Those checks are supposed to be initiated within two weeks of employment but the IG found that on average, medical staff at certain facilities could be working for more than a year before a proper background check is initiated, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri wrote to the department.
“For those employees whose background checks have been initiated, there can be significant delays,” she added.
She asked for information including how the VA will address its backlog, what steps it has taken to carry out the IG’s recommendations, and detailed information on employees already at work without having background checks initiated.
