IT Solutions Proposed to Fix Security Clearances An interagency team has outlined a plan to use technology to streamline the security clearance process. The April 30 report of the Joint Security and Suitability Reform Team responded to President Bush’s February directive for a plan to reform the process. While the plan relies on deploying technological solutions, it does not include a cost estimate or specify where the money should come from. Despite several years of efforts to speed the process, a survey by two industry groups earlier this year found most contractors are waiting an average of six to nine months for approval of new clearance applications. The Bush administration plan calls for development of technology that will automate much of the clearance process. One key element is an automated records check that would collect an applicant’s background information from government and commercial databases. The system would allow continuous monitoring of cleared employees to track any changes in their status. The interagency team called it “an end-to-end electronic system” that could replace some of the field investigations that are the time-consuming backbone of the clearance process. In a May 1 conference call with reporters, the team leader, Clay Johnson, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said President Bush will issue an executive order implementing the plan. “We have been making security clearance determinations the same way for 50 years, and it’s time to change the way we do that,” he said, Government Executive magazine reported. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-HI, said the report is “thin on solid plans and details.” He said the Homeland Security subcommittee he chairs will hold a hearing on the administration plan. The Information Technology Association of America and the National Defense Industrial Association recently surveyed about 100 contractors, and found that more than two-thirds of the companies were waiting six to nine months for clearances. “The problem is that, as the government’s need for cleared private-sector employees has grown, the government’s ability to process those clearances has barely kept up,” said Trey Hodgkins, senior director of defense and intelligence programs for ITAA. The reform plan is available at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/reports/reform_plan_report_2008.pdf.