Nearly one quarter of all individuals with Pentagon security clearance are on a backlog of cases waiting reinvestigation, according to a General Accounting Office study released Wednesday.
Until such investigations are completed, the security of the nation is at risk, the report, "DOD Personnel: Inadequate Personnel Security Investigations Pose National Security Risks (NSIAD-00-12), said. In addition, GAO found that many of the investigations that the Pentagon said were finished were actually incomplete.
"These weaknesses pose risks to national security in that individuals have been granted access to classified information without undergoing a personnel security investigation that complies fully with federal standards," GAO said.
The caseload of more than 600,000 Defense Department military, civilian and contractor employees piled up in part because of a faulty automated system designed to make the workload easier for the Defense Security Service (DSS).
DSS is the agency charged with conducting background investigations of all persons in line for DoD security clearance. More than 2.4 million DoD personnel hold Pentagon security clearance. Those employees are supposed to be reinvestigated every five to 15 years, depending on the type of clearance they hold.
DSS's automated case management system was installed last October to better integrate security questionnaire and field data and streamline the investigation process.
Instead, the automation system broke down repeatedly, GAO said. As a result, DSS has had to recruit military reserve members and private investigators to help chip away at the backlog.
GAO cited inadequate oversight of DSS operations as one reason why such a large caseload was allowed to build up. In addition to the case backlog, more than 90 percent of the 530 investigations that GAO reviewed were incomplete, the report said.
Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who requested the GAO study, said the study's findings were "astounding," but acknowledged the work DSS Director Charles Cunningham is doing to clean up inaccuracy and inefficiency at the agency.
"I have spoken with him at length about these matters and remain fully convinced that it is only a matter of time before success is at hand," Skelton said at a press conference Wednesday announcing the study.
Assistant Secretary of Defense Arthur L. Money agreed with all of GAO's recommendations for fixing mismanagement at DSS because, he admitted, such problems pose a threat to national security.
GAO's report called for improved oversight, quality control measures, performance standards and clearer investigation procedures at DSS in addition to fixing the problems with the case automation system.
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