OPM Touts Faster Security Clearance Record

OPM has said it is speeding up the security clearance process, which long has been mired in backlogs and extensive delays. It said it is now exceeding a goal in law of having 80 percent of background investigations for initial security clearances to be completed within an average of 90 days, and that 80 percent are completed in an average of 67 days. There is no longer a backlog of initial clearance investigations due to insufficient manpower resources, an official told a House hearing, and there are now about 22,000 pending investigations over 180 days in process, compared with more than 98,000 in October 2006.