The Wall Street Journal-20080215-Politics - Economics- U-S- Aims to Pare Waiting Time To Receive Security Clearances

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Politics & Economics: U.S. Aims to Pare Waiting Time To Receive Security Clearances

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The U.S. government, bombarded by complaints from defense contractors and its own agencies about the time it takes for new employees to receive security clearances, says it wants to shave 44 days from the average time it takes to grant a clearance.

In a report expected to be released today, the White House's Office of Management and Budget says that government agencies hope by the end of next year to be able to process at least 90% of requested clearances within 74 days. The feat will require the use of more- modern systems and working through a backlog of 42,000 pending background investigations that have already taken longer than six months.

Clay Johnson, the office's deputy director for management, said in an interview that there is a consensus to fix the system because it makes it harder for government agencies and contractors to hire people. "Nobody wins the way it is now," said Mr. Johnson. Large defense contractors have worked around the often frustrating process by acquiring smaller companies whose employees already have clearances for work that requires access to classified information.

Contractors have complained that the clearance process costs taxpayers money because expensive programs are delayed while employees are sidelined or confined to limited duty. Mr. Johnson said the process still relies on shuffling paper documents and files among agencies that must sign off on certain clearances.

He said the government will need to invest an undetermined amount of money in new technology to allow it to convert the documents to digital files. The government has been working to speed up the process, but progress has been slow. Pentagon employee clearances are typically completed in 104 days, compared with 151 days for outside contractors, the report says.

On average, it took 118 days during the first quarter of fiscal 2008 to investigate and process 80% of security clearances. That pace is off from last year, when it took 106 days for an initial clearance. Mr. Johnson said this was attributed to old cases being purged.