Security clearancesLawmakers want better security clearance process
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee(HSGAC) held a hearing last week to review security clearance procedures in light of Edward Snowden’s leaks and the Washington Navy Yard assault in which contractor Aaron Alexis shot and killed twelve people. Members of various federal agencies involved in issuing security clearances testified about their initiatives to improve the security clearance process, but legislators pushed for concrete plans and changes to the current system.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) held a hearing last week to review security clearance procedures in light of Edward Snowden’s leaks and the Washington Navy Yard assault in which contractor Aaron Alexis shot and killed twelve people. Members of various federal agencies involved in issuing security clearances testified about their initiatives to improve the security clearance process, but legislators pushed for concrete plans and changes to the current system.
“This is not a political issue,” said Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), the committee’s ranking member. “It’s an issue of us failing to do our jobs.”
Senators wanted to know how Alexis maintained his security clearance despite his arrest record and involvement with a firearm. Lawmakers were incredulouswhen Elaine Kaplan, acting director at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) testified that the FBI was aware of Alexis’s arrest in Seattle, but decided not to not seek a police report on the incident. Kaplan told senators that the Seattle police refused to share the arrest report with OPM, but instead referred OPM to the state of Washington’s online database. The online database, however, did not contain details of the arrest, but simply listed Alexis’ incident as “malicious mischief,” not mentioning the fact that Alexis was carrying a firearm. “We all missed something for sure,” Kaplan said, “but we did what was required.”
Joseph Jordan, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP)at the Office of Management and Budget (OOMB), considered the recent incidents as outliers but stressed his agency’s “no room for error” policy when dealing with security clearance. “We have 5 million people with clearances and the issues are very few,” Jordan said. “But any single point of failure has such monumental consequences that we have to make sure we don’t have a single one.”
After the Navy Yard attackkt, President Obama initiated an interagency review with officials from the OMB, OPM, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to formulate policies aiming to strengthen the security clearance process. Recommendations from the review will be available to legislators after the 120-day deadline in February 2014.
Several legislators have taken matters into their own hands by introducing several bills to improve security clearance procedures. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Jon Tester (D-Montana) introduced a bill to improve oversight of security clearances by allowing OPM to access its revolving fund to audit the agency’s management, employees, and contractors who conduct background checks. The bill has cleared the Senate and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, but awaits a vote by the full House. Proposal for additional oversight was issued after senators learned that USIS, the contractor which conducted both Snowden and Alexis’s background checks, was under federal investigation for approving incomplete background checks.
Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota), and Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) have proposed requiring OPM to review every individual with a security clearance at least twice, randomly, every five years. The reviews would search public records and law enforcement databases.
