Federal clearance delays have left 700,000 in limbo

[rmstock]

Civilian contractors demonstrate a portable deployment kit training on Aug. 21, 2017, as part of exercise Turbo Activation at the Port of San Diego, Calif. A delay in the processing of background checks for workers had led to a large backlog, according to defense analysts.
HALEY PHILLIPS/U.S. AIR FORCE
Federal clearance delays have left 700,000 in limbo
By AARON GREGG | The Washington Post | Published: August 27, 2017
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/federal-clearance-delays-have-left-700-000-in-limbo-1.484735#.WaT5_5QhVxA

  "WASHINGTON — The federal government is struggling to conduct background
   checks on people seeking security clearances, creating a backlog that
   one industry group says encompasses more than 700,000 applicants.
   
   As of March, the process for a top secret security clearance took more
   than 450 days to conclude, a federal official reported in May, more
   than a half-year longer than it took in April 2016.
   
   As the backlog has mounted, the Office of Personnel Management recently
   stopped reporting on the numbers of people waiting for approval. The
   decision to halt reporting comes as George Nesterczuk, the man
   President Donald Trump nominated to lead the effort withdrew his name
   from consideration, leaving OPM without a permanent director.
   
   The delay is complicating life for government contractors, as a
   shortage of cleared, qualified employees makes it hard to fill key
   positions and put people to work on sensitive projects.
   
   "This is a giant, giant problem," said Andrew Hunter, a military
   procurement expert with the Center for Strategic and International
   Studies.
   
   "I'm told there are billions of dollars being spent for people who are
   on payrolls but they're not able to do the work because they're waiting
   for a clearance," he added.
   
   Processing clearance requests has long been an issue in Washington but
   the process slowed considerably after 2013, when former National
   Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified information
   to news organizations even though he had been cleared.
   
   That same year a shooting by a cleared government employee in the
   District's Navy Yard neighborhood again raised concerns the government
   was approving too many people, prompting the government to overhaul the
   screening process.
   
   The government's problems were compounded in 2015 when clearance
   investigations were temporarily suspended after hackers breached OPM's
   computer systems and made employees' confidential personal information
   available online, revealing new flaws in the system.
   
   "This really all started with the OPM breach," said Bill Greenwalt, a
   defense consultant who was the Defense Department's deputy
   undersecretary for defense industrial policy in the George W. Bush
   administration. "I think it's gotten so bad that they stopped
   publishing it ... there's no sign of this backlog doing anything but
   growing."
   
   A spokesman from the Defense Security Service, which handles clearance
   issues at the Defense Department, said the agency forwarded questions
   to OPM. Officials at OPM did not respond to questions related to size
   of the backlog.
   
   Last year, the agency reported the backlog of unfinished clearances was
   roughly 570,000. More recently, Clearancejobs.com, a trade publication,
   reported last month the backlog had grown to 690,000. The Aerospace
   Industry Association, which lobbies on behalf of defense manufacturers,
   said in a Thursday blog post the backlog has grown to more than
   700,000, based on information it said it received from unnamed
   government individuals.
   
   The government's decision to stop reporting the size of the backlog
   came as part of a broader effort to streamline agencies' operations and
   realign their goals with the new administration.
   
   In a June 15 memo from Office of Management and Budget, the White House
   discontinued a broad set of reporting standards that existed under the
   Obama administration. The memo said new administrative goals are being
   established as part of the president's next budget.
   
   "Too often, burdensome tasks have piled up without consideration of
   whether the requirements collectively make sense," OMB Director Mick
   Mulvaney said in the memo. "In many cases, agencies are asked to spend
   more time and resources complying with low-value activities versus
   allocating taxpayer dollars to meet their core agency mission."
   
   Industry groups say the directive has made it harder for them to track
   OPM's progress.
   
   "In plain English, the OMB memo tells OPM to stop reporting progress
   toward reducing the security clearance backlog, and to the best of our
   knowledge, they have stopped," said David Berteau, president and chief
   executive of the Professional Services Council, which lobbies on behalf
   of government contractors.
   
   Members of Congress are pushing the agency for more transparency on the
   issue. In late July, the House unanimously passed a bill that would
   require OPM to produce quarterly reports detailing the size of the
   clearance backlog and the average time it takes to complete an
   investigation.
   
   In the meantime, government services firms say the shortage of skilled,
   cleared employees is igniting a war for talent and in some cases
   disrupting government work.
   
   Defense manufacturer Raytheon recently reported in a white paper that
   it requested 2,348 clearances at the "secret" level between January
   2016 and April 2017 for newly hired employees, and that 72 percent of
   them had not been filled as of April 2017. The firm reported individual
   cases typically took close to a year to conclude.
   
   "Many talented employment prospects simply decide to seek alternative
   employment, rather than wait for a clearance determination," the
   Raytheon white paper reads. "These departures not only undermine
   industry's ability to recruit the best and brightest for government
   programs, they also impose additional costs to government programs as
   new candidates must be identified, hired, and resubmitted for
   clearances."
   
   It may also be driving up wages for the limited pool of workers that
   already have clearances. The Human Resources Association of the
   National Capital Area, which tracks payroll trends, found in 2013 that
   having a clearance is associated with five to 15 percent higher wages
   depending on the clearance level. "

[yankeedoodle]

  "WASHINGTON — The federal government is struggling to conduct background
   checks on people seeking security clearances, creating a backlog that
   one industry group says encompasses more than 700,000 applicants.
   
   As of March, the process for a top secret security clearance took more
   than 450 days to conclude, a federal official reported in May, more
   than a half-year longer than it took in April 2016.
   

Of course, this is a problem, but, it's a minor problem.

The major problem is that Israhell installed shit-for-brains shabbos goy Donnie-boy, and it - not he, but it - immediately demanded that a security clearance be given to President/King Kushner, who is loyal to an enemy country - Israhell - and not the United States.