Excerpted from a Washington Post story by Aaron Gregg

The federal government’s sluggish process for clearing workers to handle classified data is drawing new concern from government auditors, industry groups and at least one member of Congress, as an estimated 700,000 people wait for background checks to be completed.

The backlog has become so great that late last week, the Government Accountability Office took the highly unusual step of adding the effort to its list of “high-risk” programs, certifying that the process is in need of concerted action to prevent waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement.

“A high-quality and timely personnel security clearance process is essential to minimize the risks of unauthorized disclosures of classified information and to help ensure that information about individuals with criminal histories or other questionable behavior is identified and assessed,” U.S. Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro said in a release.

In its report, the agency said the backlog of unfinished clearance investigations is more than 700,000 people, up from about 550,000 at the end of 2016. The Office of Personnel Management, the federal agency charged with doing the background checks, is still without a permanent director more than a year into President Trump’s tenure. The GAO criticized OPM for failing to set long-term goals to address the backlog, saying “renewed and strong top leadership commitment” is needed to solve the problem.

You can read the full story here.

 

  • GroupOne Background Screening’s webinar series will continue Thursday, April 6 with “Is the Résumé Authentic? Candidate Assessment in the Modern World” from 1:00-2:00 p.m., CT. You don’t want to miss this “Hot Topic” event with our expert speakers David Graves, HR guru and sales rep, and Danny Davila, director of FCRA Regulatory Risk. Fraudulent résumés
  • Did you know March 13-17 is Healthcare Human Resources (HR) Week? What an important opportunity to recognize HR professionals in healthcare organizations throughout the nation for their vital role across the continuum of care. On behalf of GroupOne Background Screening, we extend our sincere appreciation to each of you as HR providers in the crucial
  • The TikTok countdown has begun. On February 28, the White House issued a memorandum requiring federal employees to remove the TikTok application from any government device within 30 days. This memo, which continues a trend across several U.S. states including Texas, is the result of an act passed by Congress that requires the removal of TikTok from
  • The first of what is expected to be many lawsuits over an employer’s use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools when hiring was filed February 21, 2023. As noted in past blogs, such tools have caught the attention of the White House and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The class action lawsuit was filed against Workday, Inc. in