Security Clearance Jobs Blog

A February 17, 2010 article at Government Computer News reported that:

“The Homeland Security Department is nearly three years behind in getting Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards for its employees and contractors, according to a new report from DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner.”

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (August 2004), Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors, mandated that federal agencies issue secure federal ID cards by October 2008. As of September 2009, only 15,567, of the approximately 250,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees and contractors, had been issued PIV cards. The January 2010 DHS Inspector General’s report outlined 15 recommendations to improve the department’s implementation of HSPD-12.

Other federal agencies have also had problems implementing the PIV card requirement.  According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as of December 2009 only a handful of federal agencies had met the October 2008 PIV card implementation requirements of OMB Memorandum M-05-24. A February 2008 article at nextgov.com provides a good overview of the program and its problems.

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The AP reports:

The government accused Dongfan “Greg” Chung, a stress analyst with high-level clearance, of using his 30-year career at Boeing and Rockwell International to steal the documents. They said investigators found papers stacked throughout Chung’s house that included sensitive information about a booster rocket fueling system — documents that employees were ordered to lock away at the end of each day. They said Boeing invested $50 million in the technology over a five-year period.

In his ruling, Carney [the judge] wrote that the notion that Chung was merely a pack rat was “ludicrous” and said the evidence showed that he had been passing information to Chinese officials as a spy.

Chung worked for Rockwell until it was bought by Boeing in 1996. He stayed with the company until he was laid off in 2002, then was brought back a year later as a consultant. He was fired when the FBI began its investigation in 2006.

To no ones surprise, China has denied any involvement.   It’s worth noting that this case came about while investigators were looking into another suspected Chinese spy.

Of course, this is just one way to spy – another, bigger,  growing problem exists.

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An article in POLITICO this morning is an interesting tale. Apparently, the CIA is offering their operatives to the private sector.  The work they perform is not on “government time”, but as a side gig.   When I first saw this story, I thought it would be agents consulting along the lines of  corporate physical security or cybersecurity.   In fact, they’re working for Wall Street firms.

The CIA defends the practice as a type of talent retention program, where highly trained CIA officers can supplement their government salary without leaving the agency for the private sector, where they stand to earn 2x to 3x their current salary. POLITICO describes the work of one such firm used by Wall Street firms.

“The firm is called Business Intelligence Advisors, and it is based in Boston. BIA was founded and is staffed by a number of retired CIA officers, and it specializes in the arcane field of “deception detection.”

The tactics that BIA officials such as these teach hedge fund clients are based in a program it calls “Tactical Behavior Assessment” which focuses on the verbal and nonverbal cues that people convey when they aren’t telling the truth.

Often, BIA deploys its CIA-trained operatives to analyze quarterly corporate-earnings calls…and BIA uses them to figure out if the company may not be disclosing the truth…The information they gleaned from this phone call could be worth millions of dollars.”

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On December 7, 2009 Psnews reported that the Government of Australian will consolidate the granting of all security clearances under their Department of Defence by October 2010. Currently clearances are granted by more than 100 different agencies using 50 separate investigative service providers.

“The new approach is expected to save $5.3 million a year and improve the security vetting process by ensuring Public Servants and business contractors have a single clearance effective across Government.  It was also designed to address unnecessary regulation and remove inconsistencies within the current system.”

Australia only processes about 50,000 federal security clearances a year (about 6% of the number processed in the U.S.), but it’s still commendable that government agencies there are wililng to surrender authority for their own security clearances to a single agency in order to create a monolithic system that promises greater efficiency and consistency.

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Over at the Newsweek blog, Declassified, Mark Hosenball explored the recent events at Fort Hood and the role the security-clearance procedures played or didn’t play.

According to Wayne Hall, a spokesman at Army HQ at the Pentagon, everyone who receives a commission as a U.S. Army officer has to undergo a security investigation, which qualifies him or her, at a minimum, to handle information classified secret…he said standard practice is that officers normally have to receive their secret clearance before they are formally commissioned, and that sometimes commissions are held up pending the successful conclusion of the security check.  At this point there is no reason to believe that Hasan had anything higher than the standard secret clearance required by all officers at his level.

The background investigation of the shooter will likely come under some scrutiny as the investigations proceed.

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Secretary Gates said the “freedom of communication and the nature of it is a huge strategic asset for the United States…there are clearly a number of governments, around the world, that try to control these communications…but these governments “can’t draw the net tight enough to stop everything”…

However, the DOD also warns against the dark side of social networking as well. The problem is not so much people twittering away secrets as letting slip many smaller pieces of information that an adversary can piece together.

Where’s the middle ground? What precautions do you take?

Update:  Just today, a Washington Post article points out that even the super-secret National Security Agency is on Facebook.  Not only the NSA, but the CIA, FBI, and DIA.

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Per this new article on Wired, the CIA is using its relationship with In-Q-Tel to buy into a company called Visible Technologies. Visible Technologies is a software company that specializes in monitoring the social web, including Twitter, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, and others.

In-Q-Tel says it wants Visible to keep track of foreign social media, and give spooks “early-warning detection on how issues are playing internationally,” spokesperson Donald Tighe tells Danger Room.

Good idea? We think so. The ability to communicate quickly via social networks is no doubt an attractive prospect to terrorists. By compiling data, seeing trends, and possibly getting early warnings, the U.S. intelligence community is smart to jump into this game early.

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When your job responsibilities include overseeing nearly $1 billion in research for the Missile Defense Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and other intelligence agencies, the chances are you’re going to need security clearance to get a peek inside.

The Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University is overseen by the University’s President, Ronald Daniels, who is Canadian.

The article in the Baltimore Sun went on to say that the University had to use some creative thinking to keep the Lab’s government funding; with the creation of a Limited Liability Corp. (LLC) and the university’s board of trustees chairman overseeing the Lab.

Related Article:  Foreign Influence and Security Clearances

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An article in the National Journal covers a security clearance process that is painfully slow at the State Department. For entry level employees at the State Department, especially interns, start dates are moved back waiting for a security clearance.

In most cases, the State Department outsources investigations to contractors, however, when an applicant has lived or traveled extensively overseas, Diplomatic Security takes over the investigation.  The State Department processes 25,000 clearance cases a year and in 3Q of this year, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security needed an average of 54 days to issue entry-level clearances, down from 64 days in 2008.

In addition, the article airs allegations made by the group called Concerned Foreign Service Officers regarding State Department investigators of sometimes practicing ethnic and religious profiling, resulting from insufficient internal checks.

Follow-up: A blog on Foreign Policy published reactions from former State Department interns on this issue.

Quote of the day: “With the clearance process, as an applicant, you don’t know anything…” – State Department would-be intern.

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In an earlier blog post it was mentioned that OPM chose to prosecute six investigators to send a message to potential offenders that they can face felony charges and jail time, instead of just being fired. Is this part of that message?

A former Central Intelligence Agency investigator pleaded guilty today to fabricating about 80 background checks of various people with summaries of interviews she did not conduct.  The investigator faces up to 12 months in prison and a potential $20,000 in fines. She also will be required to make $24,555 in restitution.  Her reports were used for hiring decisions and granting security clearance for people.

This is probably not a case of sabotaging investigations for the Russians! It’s more likely a case of laziness and/or incompetence. She had to know she was playing with fire, right? If it were a job that doesn’t affect national security, you’d be fired for lying, but that’s about it.

It’s unfortunate that only the bad news gets most of the attention these days and admittedly I am a contributor.

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PERSONNEL SECURITY CLEARANCES: An Outcome-Focused Strategy Is Needed to Guide Implementation of the Reformed Clearance Process (GAO-09-488), May 2009:

The security clearance reform process has already been underway for several years, and various agencies involved have created and revised several plans for improvement. Although the high-level leadership and governance structure of the current reform effort distinguish it from previous efforts, without a strategic framework that fully addresses the long-standing security clearance problems and incorporates key practices for transformation including the ability to demonstrate progress leading to desired results the effort is at risk of losing momentum and not being fully implemented.

The GAO report made several recommendations for establishing a strategic framework for the joint reform effort, including clearer goals, outcome-focused performance measures, formal communications strategy, further definition of roles and responsibilities for implementation of IT strategy, and determining funding requirements.

Somewhat disturbing was the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) response to the draft version of GAO-09-488:

OPM believes that it is important not to conflate the suitability and security clearance processes. Nonetheless, it recognizes that there are areas of commonality between the two and agrees that both processes should be administered efficiently and aligned where appropriate. The means by which these goals are accomplished, however ”whether through the governance structure established by Executive Order 13467 (and studied by the GAO) or in some other fashion”is currently under review by the new Administration, as are the reform initiatives discussed in the draft report. This review may result in a new governance structure and/or new goals and standards. For that reason, while the critiques discussed in GAO’s report will certainly merit consideration going forward, I do not believe that it would be productive at this time to address with greater specificity the concerns it expresses about the past management of the reform process.

A new governance structure and/or new goals and standards?

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Our very own Evan Lesser aka “admin” made an appearance last Sunday on This Week in Defense News where he discusses the pay gap between civilian and government employees with security clearances.

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With the economic downturn and entering the seventh year of overseas combat, some Soldiers and civilians are worried about their security clearance.

The commander of the U.S. Army Central Personnel Security Clearance Facility (CCF) wants all Army personnel to understand that “they can obtain counseling services for financial and mental health issues without undue concern of placing their security clearance status in jeopardy…”

As previously mentioned on ClearanceJobsBlog, a bankruptcy or foreclosure will not automatically prevent one from obtaining or maintaining a security clearance. There are many conditions surrounding financial hardships that often mitigate security concerns.

In fact, about 98 percent of cases received by the CCF which involve financial issues were granted a security clearance. This trend has been consistent since 2005.  Individuals under financial duress are encouraged to contact their local Army Community Service or Military One Source to obtain financial counseling to determine how to best manage their debts.

Many Soldiers expressed an unwillingness to participate in behavioral or psychological health programs, however the OPM ensures that investigations are conducted in a manner compliant with the revised Q21, which excludes the reporting of treatment related to adjustments from service in a military combat environment, such as PTSD, or mild traumatic brain injury.

Executive Order 12968, Access to Classified Information states mental health counseling in and of itself is not a reason to revoke or deny a security clearance. Seeking support to address mental health issues demonstrates inner strength and embodies the Warrior Ethos, Army leaders have said.

Professional mental health counseling is not a threat to an individual’s security clearance; rather it can be a positive factor in the security clearance process, officials said.  CCF’s adjudicative history indicates that 99.98 percent of cases with psychological concerns obtained/retained their security clearance eligibility.  The current policy provides both adjudicators and commanders flexibility to allow individuals undergoing counseling to maintain their security clearance.

Related Articles: Personal Finances and Security Clearances

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Many qualified people find themselves unable to successfully compete for federal positions because they don’t have an “active” or “current” security clearance. This situation is often characterized as a “Catch—22” in that you can’t get sponsored for a security clearance without a job offer from a federal agency or contractor, and you often can’t get the job offer without a clearance.

A British IT contractor recently initiated an E-Petition at the UK Prime Minister’s website requesting that individuals be allowed to pay for their own clearances. So far 614 people have signed the petition. An American initiated a similar petition at a non-governmental E-Petition website without suggesting who would pay for the processing and has only gathered 22 signatures. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides for “the right of the people . . . to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The UK Prime Minister’s E-Petition website has existed for over a year, but a similar website for the US President is only now being discussed on a blog page at the White House website.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) conducts about 80% of all federal security clearance investigations. Their current price for a standard NACLC investigation needed for a contractor Secret clearance is $221. Because OPM clearance investigations are handled on a fee-for-service basis, the mechanism exists for individuals to pay for their own investigations, but no mechanism exists to pay for adjudicating the investigations. Another obstacle to self-sponsorship is the federal government’s policy to limit clearance requests to only those positions for which a validate need exists. Without these 2 obstacles private companies could fill the need to provide the necessary front-end application and payment processing.

Is it time for the federal government to allow people to sponsor themselves for a security clearance, if they are willing to personally pay for it?

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In the fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill a test program aims to set up a secure telework site in the D.C. metro area for federal employees who need to access classified networks. Nextgov reports that at least two sites in the D.C. area will be identified where they can test the efficacy of a secure teleworking location for government workers.

Teleworking is seen as a retention and recruitment tool to help deal with the latest BRAC round where DISA is being forced to move employees from Northern Virginia to Fort Meade. Approximately 70% of DISA employees live in Northern Virginia. More than 2,000 DISA employees already work remotely, but on unclassified work only.

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