Administration Cites Progress on Security Clearances The Office of Personnel Management says it has eliminated the backlog of security clearance applications and is completing the vast majority of background investigations in less than 40 days, as mandated by Congress. But the critical last step in the process – agencies’ decisions on whether to grant a clearance – is still lagging. OPM Director John Berry told a Senate subcommittee he is “extremely proud” of the progress. But the ranking Republican on the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia sees a different picture. Sen. George Voinovich, R-OH, said the Defense Department’s handling of clearance applications remains on the high-risk list of federal programs compiled by the Government Accountability Office. “I am particularly concerned about the lack of progress being made regarding reciprocity because I still consistently hear from individuals who have problems having one agency accept another agency’s clearance,” he said at the Sept. 15 hearing. OPM’s Berry testified that 90% of background investigations are being completed in an average of 37 days; Congress mandated that the average be no more than 40 days by the end of this calendar year. But Berry acknowledged that the majority of clearances are not granted within 60 days, as Congress ordered, because many individual agencies are slow in making decisions – the process called adjudication. Although he did not specify which agencies are laggards, his figures indicate that the Defense Department is one of them. It processes more clearance applications than any other agency. Five years ago, Berry said, 90% of cases were taking over 300 days and there was a backlog of more than half a million applications. “We are ahead of schedule for meeting the December goal,” he said. “We aren’t at the goal line yet, but we are within 10 yards.” Berry said technological advances instituted last year have speeded up the process. Ninety-seven percent of applications are now submitted online rather than on paper and an automated system evaluates applications that raise no red flags. Administration officials said additional improvements will make it easier for one agency to recognize a clearance granted by another. Jeffrey Zients, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said a new Standard Form 86 – the form used in national security investigations – will be released by the end of this month.