GovernmentExecutive.com

Return to Article: Lawmakers lash out at security clearance backlog

• 4896
  

  I should have been clearer in my original post. The entries I referenced were the result of inaccurate note taking by the investigator. No one made the accusations I referenced, the investigator just took poor notes. In my case, the investigator made the entry that during his interview with me (not someone else, but with me) that I said I was releasing classified info to uncleared people. I made no such comment and if the investigator thinks I said that, why didn't he clear it up during our interview? My point is that the investigators are writing down things that people are NOT saying or, in an even worse scenario, they are making the entries into the wrong case file and that people making such comments are being cleared.

  GovExec.com reader Posted June 1, 2004 7:01 AM
• 4872
  

  That's true that these allegations generate more work which cause delays, but in the 5-10% of the cases that the allegations are untrue, aren't you happy that we are catching the other 90% and those people are not getting clearances? I would estimate that 85% of all additional work, that is work that was not done initially on a case but was required to be done to meet national standards for a security clearance, comes from incomplete security forms. I don't fill out your SF86, you do. If you forget to list a residence or job, you generate more work for me that doesn't get found out until later in the investigation causing a HUGE delay. This happens to me 1 out of every 4 cases I work. You want to talk about lengthy delays on your clearances, do the math. Last year I carried a caseload of over 300 cases at any given time. That's 300 people waiting for a clearance. In my office there are 10 agents. We all have the same caseload. That's 3000 people. I work 8 hours a day and hopefully can close 2-3 cases a day. But I receive 8-10 cases a day. I can never catch up! Simply, hire more agents!! We are doing the best we can with what we got.

  GovExec.com reader Posted May 28, 2004 11:58 AM
• 4569
  

  Part of this problem is that the investigations are getting so sloppy that they are creating more work for themselves. In my case, an entry was made that I leaked information to people I couldn't remember. Even though I never said this, it had to be investigated which created a ton of extra work. (And I wonder if someone else said it and if it was noted in their investigation.) I'm not alone - a co-worker had an entry in his records that he walked out of a polygraph interview, another had an entry that he did serious drugs. All untrue, but all had to be investigated. Three molehills turned into mountains.

  GovExec.com reader Posted May 7, 2004 6:59 AM