450 days for Top Secret clearance?

      While the Office of Personnel Management is no longer reporting the size of the backlog in obtaining top secret clearances, sources say the backlog has grown.

      As of March, getting a clearance takes 450 days, which is six months longer compared to a year ago, the Washington Post reported, citing an unnamed federal official as the source of the figures.

      The delays are affecting many national security federal contractors struggling to find employees to fill top-secret roles.

      “The Defense Dept., and cleared contractors, in particular, are feeling the affect of the 690,000 case backlog and near 500-day wait for a top secret security clearance,” Lindy Kyzer wrote in a recent blog posting at ClearanceJobs.com. She added that DOD is studying whether to allow contractors to pay more of the $5,000 cost of obtaining a top-secret clearance.

      The Aerospace Industries Association weighed in with a recent blog post: “It is now estimated that more than 700,000 federal civilians, military personnel, and industry employees cannot perform their duties because the background investigations for their security clearances have not been conducted. Recently one company reported that more than 75% of its requests for investigations have been delayed for more than 18 months and another 10% have been in process for more than 24 months,” the blog post said.

      The delays are likely to hit small businesses hard because they typically cannot compete with the higher salaries offered by larger businesses to recruit talent..

      The problems have existed for years, but have grown worse.

More information: ClearanceJobs.com: http://goo.gl/eEnvSn
WashPost: http://goo.gl/JHgwvX
AIA blog: http://goo.gl/yy8PR6

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