DoD Personnel Clearances

DoD Personnel Clearances

Author: Brenda S. Farrell

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2009-09

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 1437916619

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The Dept. of Defense (DoD) personnel security clearance program has been a high-risk entity since 2005, due to delays in the process and incomplete documentation. The Office of Personnel Mgmt. (OPM) conducts most of DoD's clearance investigations, which DoD adjudicators use to make clearance decisions. The Deputy Dir. for Mgmt. at the Office of Mgmt. and Budget chairs a Performance Accountability Council that is responsible for reforming the clearance process. This report addresses the: (1) reporting on timeliness for DoD clearances; (2) documentation completeness for making initial top-secret clearance decisions for DoD personnel; and (3) reporting on the quality of the clearance process. Includes recommend. Illus.


Personnel Clearances: Key Factors to Consider in Efforts to Reform Security Clearance Processes

Personnel Clearances: Key Factors to Consider in Efforts to Reform Security Clearance Processes

Author: Brenda S. Farrell

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2008-07

Total Pages: 21

ISBN-13: 1437901697

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In 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act to reform security clearance processes. The experience in evaluating personnel security clearance processes has consisted of examining the DoD program, which maintains 2.5 million clearances on service members, DoD civilian employees, legislative branch employees, and industry personnel working for DoD and 23 other fed. agencies. Long-standing delays in processing applications -- and other problems in DoD¿s clearance program -- led it to be designated a high-risk area in 2005. There has also been clearance-related problems in other agencies. Here, the author was asked to identify key factors that could be applied in personnel security clearance reform efforts.


Personnel Clearances: Key Factors for Reforming the Security Clearance Process

Personnel Clearances: Key Factors for Reforming the Security Clearance Process

Author: Brenda S. Farrell

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2008-10

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13: 143790582X

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Efforts to reform personnel security clearance processes should consider, among other things, the following four key factors: (1) a strong requirements-determination process, (2) quality in all clearance processes, (3) metrics to provide a fuller picture of clearance processes, and (4) long-term funding requirements of security clearance reform. In February 2008, GAO noted that a sound requirements process is important because requesting a clearance for a position in which it will not be needed, or in which a lower-level clearance would be sufficient, will increase both costs and investigative workload unnecessarily. For example, the cost of obtaining and maintaining a top secret clearance for 10 years is approximately 30 times greater than the cost of obtaining and maintaining a secret clearance for the same period. Also, changing a position's clearance level from secret to top secret increases the investigative workload for that position about 20-fold.


DoD Personnel Clearances: Additional OMB Actions Are Needed to Improve the Security Clearance Process

DoD Personnel Clearances: Additional OMB Actions Are Needed to Improve the Security Clearance Process

Author:

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 72

ISBN-13: 9781422311783

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Our independent analysis of timeliness data showed that industry personnel contracted to work for the federal government waited more than one year on average to receive top secret clearances, longer than OPM-produced statistics would suggest. Our analysis of 2,259 cases for industry personnel who were granted top secret clearance eligibility in January and February 2006 had an average of 446 days for an initial clearance and 545 days for a clearance update. While OMB has issued a goal that the application-submission phase of the clearance process will take no longer than 14 days by December 17, 2006, this phase took an average of 111 days. OPM s current procedures for measuring application submission timeliness do not fully capture all of the time in the application process that starts when the application form is submitted by the facility security officer to the federal government. Inaccurate data that the employee provided in the application, multiple reviews of the application, and manual entry of some application forms are some of the causes for the extended application-submission phase. In addition, our analyses showed that OPM took an average of 286 days to complete the initial investigations for top secret clearances, well in excess of the 180-day goal (no goal is given for clearance update investigations) specified in the government wide plan for improving the clearance process. Factors contributing to the slowness of completing the investigation phase include an inexperienced investigative workforce that has not reached its full performance level; and problems accessing national, state, and local records.


DoD Personnel Clearances: Preliminary Observations on DoD's Progress on Addressing Timeliness and Quality Issues

DoD Personnel Clearances: Preliminary Observations on DoD's Progress on Addressing Timeliness and Quality Issues

Author: Brenda S. Farrell

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2011-05

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13: 1437945007

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In light of long-standing problems with delays and backlogs, Congress mandated personnel security clearance reforms through the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA), which requires, among other things, that executive agencies meet objectives for the timeliness of the investigative and adjudicative phases of the security clearance process. Since 2005, the DoD clearance program has been on a high-risk list due to timeliness delays. Based on prior and ongoing work, this statement addresses DoD's progress in: (1) reducing the timeliness of initial personnel security clearances at DoD; and (2) building quality into the processes used to investigate and adjudicate security clearances. Illus. A print on demand report.


And QualityDoD Personnel Clearances

And QualityDoD Personnel Clearances

Author: James R. Clapper, Jr.

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2009-11

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 1437912443

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This correspondence provides a preliminary assessment of the timeliness and quality of the DoD personnel security clearance program. These findings are based on an ongoing engagement that the auditor has been conducting since Feb. 2008. In 2009, there will be a report providing more details regarding these findings. In response to a draft of this briefing report, DoD provided written comments and the Office of Personnel Mgmt. (OPM) provided comments via e-mail. The summary and evaluation of DoD's and OPM's comments and DoD's written comments are included here. Charts and tables.


Personnel Security Clearances

Personnel Security Clearances

Author: Brenda S. Farrell

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13: 1437920683

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Personnel security clearances are used to verify that national security information -- which in some cases could cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if disclosed -- is entrusted only to those who have proven reliability and loyalty to the nation. In response to long-standing problems with timeliness and backlogs, Congress mandated clearance reforms as part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. This report reviews the extent to which reform efforts: (1) align with key practices for organizational transformations; and (2) address identified factors for reforming the personnel security clearance process. Includes recommendations. Tables.