DOD Personnel Clearances. DOD Faces Multiple Challenges in Its Efforts to Improve Clearance Processes for Industry Personnel

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DOD) maintains approximately 2.5 million security clearances on servicemembers, federal DOD civilian employees, industry personnel for DOD and 23 other federal agencies, and employees in the legislative branch. Delays in determining eligibility for a clearance can heighten the risk that classified information will be disclosed to unauthorized sources, increase contract costs, and pose problems in attracting and retaining qualified personnel. In this statement, GAO addresses: (1) the status of DOD s efforts to improve its projections of the numbers of clearances needed for industry personnel, and (2) other long-standing challenges that have a negative effect on the efficiency and effectiveness of DOD s personnel security clearance program for industry personnel. This statement is based on a report GAO is issuing today (GAO-08-350) and other prior work, which included reviews of clearance-related documents and interviews of senior officials at DOD and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 13, 2008
Accession Number
ADA476913

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Clearances
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • Department Of Defense
  • Electronic Mail
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • House Of Representatives
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Public Administration
  • Security
  • Unauthorized Disclosure
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Defense Financial Management and Audit.