Security Clearance Moratorium Is Lifted The Defense Security Service has resumed accepting applications for security clearances at all levels. Bracing for a flood of applications, DSS asked contractors “to prioritize and regulate their submissions over the next weeks to prevent an unmanageable influx of requests.” DSS stopped accepting applications from industry for more than two weeks last spring because it had run out of money to process them. It partially lifted the moratorium in May, but was still not accepting applications for Top Secret clearances. In its July 10 announcement, DSS said it has “worked through its funding difficulties” and is accepting applications for all initial investigations and periodic reinvestigations. The Defense Department pays the Office of Personnel Management to conduct background investigations. OPM also handles investigations for most civilian agencies, except intelligence agencies. Officials said requests for Top Secret clearances have more than doubled over the past two years, to 7,000 a month. Requests for Secret/Confidential clearances have risen to 34,000 per month, compared to 14,000 two years ago. The agency projected it will process 1.7 million requests during this fiscal year, up from 1.4 million last year. At a forum for industry and agencies July 11, OPM officials said the average time for completing a Top Secret investigation is now 161 days, compared to 341 in 2004. The 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act requires that 80% of all initial clearance investigations must be completed within 90 days by the end of this year. Clay Johnson, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, called that an “aggressive” goal. Kathy Dillaman, who heads the Federal Investigative Services Division for OPM, insisted, “We are well on our way to meeting” the goal. This month the agency awarded new contracts to five companies that will conduct background investigations. Before those contracts were awarded, Dillaman had said 8,600 investigators were working on clearance applications. But industry officials said many of the investigators are free-lancers who work for more than one contractor, so the actual number was probably around 5,000. Industry officials estimated in May that the backlog of applications had reached 300,000. Contractors say they have been paying premiums of up to 25% above normal salary to hire people with active clearances.