The enclosed briefing provides our preliminary assessment of the timeliness and quality of the Department of Defense's (DOD) personnel security clearance program. These findings are based on an ongoing engagement that we have been conducting since February 2008 under the Comptroller General's authority to conduct evaluations on his own initiative. In 2009, we plan to issue a report providing more details regarding these findings. In response to a draft of this briefing report, DOD provided written comments and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provided comments via email. Our summary and evaluation of DOD's and OPM's comments are included in enclosure II and DOD's written comments are reprinted in their entirety in enclosure III.

DOD Personnel Clearances: Preliminary Observations about Timeliness and Quality

This correspondence provides a preliminary assessment of the timeliness and quality of the DoD personnel security clearance program. These findings are based on an ongoing engagement that the auditor has been conducting since Feb. 2008. In 2009, there will be a report providing more details regarding these findings. In response to a draft of this briefing report, DoD provided written comments and the Office of Personnel Mgmt. (OPM) provided comments via e-mail. The summary and evaluation of DoD's and OPM's comments and DoD's written comments are included here. Charts and tables.

In light of long-standing problems with delays and backlogs, Congress mandated personnel security clearance reforms through the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA), which requires, among other things, that executive agencies meet objectives for the timeliness of the investigative and adjudicative phases of the security clearance process. Since 2005, the DoD clearance program has been on a high-risk list due to timeliness delays. Based on prior and ongoing work, this statement addresses DoD's progress in: (1) reducing the timeliness of initial personnel security clearances at DoD; and (2) building quality into the processes used to investigate and adjudicate security clearances. Illus. A print on demand report.

DOD Personnel Clearances: Preliminary Observations on DOD's Progress on Addressing Timeliness and Quality Issues

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.