Security
Security
Posted on Jun 15, 2015
Security clearance investigations may not be as thorough as they should be. What does this say about our national security?
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For years, investigators charged with vetting the backgrounds of those who handle the nation’s secrets have said they were pressured to churn through cases as quickly as possible. The faster they turned them in, the faster their company got paid — even if the investigations were rushed and incomplete.
The company, USIS, lost the contract to conduct background checks used in granting security clearances after an employee blew the whistle in a lawsuit, eventually joined by the Justice Department. In the wake of a scandal so fierce that members of Congress accused USIS of defrauding the government and prioritizing profit over the nation’s security, federal officials vowed to prevent such abuses from ever happening again.
But a similar quota system used by USIS to drive its investigators continues at the companies that now perform the bulk of the investigations — and in some cases is even more demanding, according to internal company documents and interviews with current and former investigators.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/security-clearance-contractors-still-stress-speed-over-thoroughness-workers-say/2015/06/14/00d1bd80-09fa-11e5-95fd-d580f1c5d44e_story.html?hpid=z6
The company, USIS, lost the contract to conduct background checks used in granting security clearances after an employee blew the whistle in a lawsuit, eventually joined by the Justice Department. In the wake of a scandal so fierce that members of Congress accused USIS of defrauding the government and prioritizing profit over the nation’s security, federal officials vowed to prevent such abuses from ever happening again.
But a similar quota system used by USIS to drive its investigators continues at the companies that now perform the bulk of the investigations — and in some cases is even more demanding, according to internal company documents and interviews with current and former investigators.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/security-clearance-contractors-still-stress-speed-over-thoroughness-workers-say/2015/06/14/00d1bd80-09fa-11e5-95fd-d580f1c5d44e_story.html?hpid=z6
Security Clearance
National Security
Security
Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 7
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Sgt David G Duchesneau
SGM, you are so right. You do get what you pay for. I do background all day long for Homeland Security Firms and I had to sit down with them and go over everything. As you know, everybody has a budget and I do educate my clients as to what they can expect for the money they have budgeted.
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Pretty much what is says about everything else: let's get our act together!
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GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad, this isn't that difficult to figure out. It come down to self-interest. (And that includes the government, even if it's not a self.) Government contracts have been money wasters for years, with lack of accountability, featherbedding, and the inability to connect costs with work done. So naturally things tightened down, and now you have companies that say, "You have two hours to complete the interview, and write your report, and then it's on to the next job."
But what happens if it takes the investigator three hours to do a good job? Odds are his company will be unhappy, he may be asked to charge only two hours, and he may well be the next one laid off. Who among us is so dedicated to doing the right thing that we'll risk our job over it?
So what I expect happens is the HONORABLE investigator says, "I am ordered to only spend two hours. Both the government and my company are convinced that is the right amount, so I'll do the best job I can in the two hours, and the results are on them." And that's really not that bad an attitude. Both the government and the company have more money than he does, and anyone else will do the same thing, so why not cooperate and graduate?
Of course, part of the problem is our society. Jobs and people have become pegs and holes that the company and government play mix and match with, without any thought for the person who has to pay his mortgage and feed his family. And that same lack of loyalty is reciprocated by the employee, who picks up on the fact that the company could care less about him, and so he does what his personal sense of honor and duty allow.
You see, there was a time that a person joined a company, stayed there for 30 years, got the gold watch and the pension, and lived happily ever after (more or less.) But pensions are expensive, and they went the way of the dinosaur. What went with pensions? Loyalty. If you aren't going to take care of me, don't expect me to take care of you. If all you want from me is X, and that's all you are paying me for, don't expect X + Y. And I'm not saying it was a bad thing that that went away, because it is part of the union system we have today, where no one is expected to be any better at his job to justify a union negotiated pay increase. Besides, there never was a price that could be put on loyalty and honor.
OK, I've complained, so do I have a solution? I have an idea, but any kind of implementation is going to mean someone has a job and needs to be paid for it. The solution is rate the quality of the reports and keep records on the investigators and their companies. (Time spent per report, quality of report, number of people who violate their clearance in ways that might have been detected by a quality investigator, and so on.) Those who turn in quality work get bonuses and contract renewals. Those who don't find another job.
But what happens if it takes the investigator three hours to do a good job? Odds are his company will be unhappy, he may be asked to charge only two hours, and he may well be the next one laid off. Who among us is so dedicated to doing the right thing that we'll risk our job over it?
So what I expect happens is the HONORABLE investigator says, "I am ordered to only spend two hours. Both the government and my company are convinced that is the right amount, so I'll do the best job I can in the two hours, and the results are on them." And that's really not that bad an attitude. Both the government and the company have more money than he does, and anyone else will do the same thing, so why not cooperate and graduate?
Of course, part of the problem is our society. Jobs and people have become pegs and holes that the company and government play mix and match with, without any thought for the person who has to pay his mortgage and feed his family. And that same lack of loyalty is reciprocated by the employee, who picks up on the fact that the company could care less about him, and so he does what his personal sense of honor and duty allow.
You see, there was a time that a person joined a company, stayed there for 30 years, got the gold watch and the pension, and lived happily ever after (more or less.) But pensions are expensive, and they went the way of the dinosaur. What went with pensions? Loyalty. If you aren't going to take care of me, don't expect me to take care of you. If all you want from me is X, and that's all you are paying me for, don't expect X + Y. And I'm not saying it was a bad thing that that went away, because it is part of the union system we have today, where no one is expected to be any better at his job to justify a union negotiated pay increase. Besides, there never was a price that could be put on loyalty and honor.
OK, I've complained, so do I have a solution? I have an idea, but any kind of implementation is going to mean someone has a job and needs to be paid for it. The solution is rate the quality of the reports and keep records on the investigators and their companies. (Time spent per report, quality of report, number of people who violate their clearance in ways that might have been detected by a quality investigator, and so on.) Those who turn in quality work get bonuses and contract renewals. Those who don't find another job.
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