Report: Security Clearances Moving Faster The government is “making significant progress” in speeding the processing of security clearances, according to an interagency working group, as the Bush administration is reportedly considering scaling back the investigations that are required before a clearance can be granted. Clay Johnson III, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, told USA Today that the interagency group he heads is considering dropping requirements for interviewing neighbors and character references if a candidate passes checks of criminal and financial records. “Do we really need to talk to five neighbors (of a candidate)? Do we really need all the colleges (the candidate attended)?” he asked. Evan Lesser, director of ClearanceJobs.com, a job placement website, said in a comment on his blog, “Some believe though, that an investigation that is not as detailed may pose security risks.” The Government Accountability Office reported in November that the Defense Department often granted clearances even though significant information was missing from the background investigations, creating the potential for damage to national security. (SAA, 11/10/06) OMB’s Security Clearance Oversight Group said 80% of initial clearance investigations performed by the Office of Personnel Management since Oct. 1 were completed in an average of 101 days, down from 347 days in 2005, while adjudications of those cases averaged 17 days. OPM and its contractors handle about 90% of clearance investigations. Those results meet benchmarks established in the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. That law requires 90% of clearance applications eventually to be processed within 60 days. The Oversight Group said just because the processing times meet the benchmarks “does not mean we are most assuredly granting security clearances as quickly as desired or called for.” The report did not focus on the timeliness of reinvestigations of people with existing clearances because administration officials have attached greater importance to speeding the processing of new applications. The report said more than 9,300 people are now working on clearances, an increase of about 1,500 over the past two years. It said more agencies are using an electronic questionnaire call eQuip to submit clearance applications instead of filling out paper forms that have to be mailed or faxed.