Clearance Applicants Place Personal Info at Risk

One cost of applying for or holding a security clearance is the risk one takes in trusting government officials to protect sensitive, personal information.

According to a Department of Defense Inspector General report, hundreds of computers containing such sensitive information went missing from 1997 to 2005.

[The Defense Security Service] located 308 of the 501 laptops and was able to assure auditors that the remaining 193 laptops did not leave the control of the government, which the auditors said meant the data on the laptops was not at risk.

But the inspector general’s office said the initial listing of 501 laptops was inaccurate, meaning some people’s personal information potentially was still at risk.

However the Pentagon’s Defense Privacy Office had concluded that the risk of unauthorized disclosure of private information was not great enough to warrant public notification.

Filed Under: Procedures, Career