House Panel Seeks Answers on Clearance Reform

On April 2, Congressman Jerry Lewis of California questioned Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Linda Springer about security clearance reforms during a hearing of a House Appropriations subcommittee. OPM processes most lower-level federal security clearances and participates in a multi-agency federal group charged with reforming the security clearance process.

Unfortunately, no transcript of the hearing is available on the subcommittee’s website, but Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Transcriptions covered the session and a transcript should be available through your local library.

Click “Read More” (below) for highlights:

• Springer said that the multi-agency committee is “looking at a whole new way” of processing clearances;

• Lewis said that, often, federal employees and contractors have clearances they do not need to do their jobs, and Springer said that reform efforts are considering changes to the levels of clearances issued;

• Springer said that, currently, it takes on average 112 days to process a new Secret-level clearance;

• Lewis was critical of how polygraphs are used in clearance investigations, suggesting that people who fail the exams are put back into a queue to retest many month later, creating a backlog. Springer admitted to not knowing much about polygraphs and promised to get back to Lewis on the issue.

Filed Under: Reform