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Return to Article: Funding, technology cited as key to speeding security clearances

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  I am a retired "state" criminal/background investigator. I recently obtained a Secret Clearance to become a contracted backround investigator. I live in the Fayetteville NC area and unable to land a job with a private ferm..Any name of companies that work this area?

  Lou Abbond Posted June 3, 2007 11:46 AM
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  I have to disagree with the previous post from the OPM "special agent". By the way, the term OPM special agent is a misnomer, only federal investigators who conduct criminal investigations and carry sidearms are "special agents". I also worked for OPM and DSS/DIS before working as a contractor. There are no incentives to work harder as a federal investigator, in fact, working fast and hard is frowned upon as a federal investigator. The contractor companies, on the other hand, reward hardwork with more frequent raises. The federal investigator is just that, a federal employee, and you know that all the jokes and humor about government employees are all true. The incentives that the contractor companies provide are all much better. The federal investigators do not care about case deadlines, I know, I was there. The majority of DSS/DIS investigators are very unhappy with the OPM system and will either retire or lateral out as soon as the opportunity presents itself. The fact of the matter is that almost all of the "special agents" that OPM is hiring were all previously contract investigators who were working for Kroll, USIS, Mantech, etc.

  John P. Francis Posted May 21, 2007 2:43 PM
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  I was a DIS FEDERAL investigator for 7 years, a Contract investigator with six different companies for 19 years, and now I am back with the Federal Govt. as an OPM Special Agent for the past two years. I disagree that contractors can do background investigations better and faster than the Federal investigators and I can say that with confidence since I have worked as both. The same incentives are in place for Federal Agents to complete their work with quality in a timely manner as there are for the contractors--report deadlines, semi-annual performance evaluations and appraisals. A large percentage of OPM investigators were former DSS Special Agents and often have decades of experience conducting personnel security investigations. I am not convinced that OPM is the best place for DOD-related investigations. The Defense Dept. should be investigating DOD civilians, military personnel and DOD contractors. But as long as OPM is in the business of Security investigations, one can be assured that the Federal Employees are doing as good a job or better than contract investigators. In fact, the stories that circulate about the conduct of contractors is not always favorable. Some contract companies are hiring a very young investigative staff with little or not experience right out of college which results in a high turnover rate. From my experience with both private contractors and government agencies, the most professional, experienced and dedicated group are the Federal Investigators.

  Special Agent Posted May 19, 2007 7:20 PM
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  The contractor company investigators (Kroll, CSC, USIS, etc.) are all out-performing the OPM federal investigators. The contractors finish twice as many background investigations in one month than the OPM investigators. The contractors are faster and the quality of the contractor background investigations is even better. There are no incentives for the OPM federal investigators to work faster or smarter. It's obvious the solution to speeding up the security clearance process is to continue to outsource the background investigations to contractors and to privatize the OPM investigators again.

  Sean Mcgregorson Posted May 18, 2007 2:33 PM
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  How much of OPM's process is TRULY automated? As I understand it they are paper driven. Even eQuip is flawed in the respect that the customer completes an electronic form but at OPM that form is then printed out, keyed in to the system not once but twice for "quality review". The system that OPM uses was developed in the 1980s and is a DOS based program. PIPSR is the system that agent's use and they say its not much better. In the DoD world of CCMS the case reviewer would review the entire case on screen (electronically) and also be able to effect any changes or corrections to spelling, grammar etc - immediately. Currently paper cases are shipped back and forth between Boyers, Pa and Ft Meade, Md. The "electronic case papers" are scanned-in images which can be seen but not changed, they are not LIVE documents. Suggested that OMB or some other group compare the 20-1-M from DSS to the "Draft" version 5 of OPM's investigations handbook since they have not put out a final version as of yet. It would appear that DSS was certainly better able to provide DoD components with the product they needed. Money should have been invested in correcting the system they had in place or to stand up a better system vs. divesting themselves from the process. It would appear that OPM bit off more than they could chew when taking on the DoD workload. DoD also had some military components to handle overseas work - whereas OPM has to send agents TDY. It is difficult to be new to a foreign country and be expected to you're your way around and accomplish leads when you have never been there before, have not established contacts etc. Congress passed the Government Paperwork Elimination Act in 1998 but it would seem that OPM continues to work largely with paper case files.

  E.Keene Posted May 18, 2007 11:25 AM
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  This is absolutely ridiculous! How can the system be "on the verge of collapse"? It ISN'T that old. Did the architect's of JPAS forget to check how many people in the federal gov't, both mil and civ, are in positions that require a clearance? Even "administrative assistants" require at least a secret clearance just to do their JOB!

  Nullrout Posted May 18, 2007 7:16 AM
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  A top secret security clearance is in itself a difficult process to complete. There is no "quick and easy" way to go about it. Face to face conversation with living breathing human beings is required with rigorous documentation.

  Almost all security jobs after 9/11 seem to require a much higher clearance. Combine that fact with the sheer numbers and high level of clearances (many with requirements beyond top secret) and the need for more funding should come as no surprise.

  Higher security is almost directly proportional to longer and more costly investigations.

  The agencies must re-evaluate the actual security level needed by employees on a "need to have" basis.

  A contractor may only be exposed to "top secret information" once a year but could work the rest of the time with a "secret" clearance. It may be more economical to eliminate the occasional higher level information than have everyone classified at high levels for "just in case" reasons.

  Many job classifications are being cleared at a much higher than necessary level on the chance that a worker could be exposed to high level information. The workers should be cleared at the level that they are expected to be exposed to on a regular and ongoing basis.

  This reclassification to a lower level has the added benefit of allowing a larger labor pool of applicants to qualify for government or goverment contractor related jobs at lower expenses and time delays in getting clearances.

  I do not advocate the watering down of security clearences but I disagree with everyone being required to have a much higher clearance for "just in case" reasons instead of needing it for day to day operations.

  Agencies must develope reciprical agreements on clearances. If clearances are not easily transported between agencies than the question becomes that one agency is too stringent or the other is too lax.

  Congress, the NSA, DOD, DOJ, and many other agencies have to come to an agreement on what is universally accepted as a clearance.

  J.Laskowski Posted May 17, 2007 10:33 PM