Administration Cites Progress on Security Clearances Bush administration officials say they are on track to meet the congressional mandate to process most security clearance applications within 90 days. The lead agencies, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, said they have developed a plan to speed the process and monitor their progress. The administration representatives testified Nov. 9 before the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management. The Government Accountability Office, while acknowledging that progress is being made, said the administration’s plan focuses on speeding investigations, not on the entire process of granting clearances. On one key issue – making agencies accept clearances granted by other agencies – OPM Deputy Director Clay Johnson declared, “Reciprocity has been required before, but no one has ever held agencies accountable for honoring it. We will.” He said a database of all persons now holding clearances will be created by end of December. Johnson also said OMB “will establish a feedback mechanism for contractors so their concerns about the timeliness of security clearances are addressed but the risk of alienating the agencies with which they are attempting to do business is minimized.” OPM Director Linda Springer said processing times for investigations have decreased significantly: from 163 days for a secret or confidential clearance in June to 136 days in October; and from 147 days for a priority top secret request in June to 104 in October. Congress has directed that 80% of clearance investigations be completed within 90 days by the end of 2006. When OPM took over responsibility for Defense Department security clearances in February, Springer said the governmentwide backlog of applications totaled 404,000. She said the agency has since added 400 new investigators — for a total of 8,400 – and is using an electronic questionnaire to collect background information from applicants. OPM issued an RFP last month for a contractor to review and assemble field reports into a package that can be forwarded to agencies for decisions. The GAO said the administration’s plan is an “important step,” but does not pay enough attention to the quality of investigations and adjudications.