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Letter to Gen. John Kelly, White House Chief of Staff and LTG H.R. McMaster, National Security Advisor - Urges WH to Make Security Clearance Reform a Top Priority

Letter

Date: March 13, 2018
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security Executive Branch

Dear General Kelly and General McMaster:

We write to request that you personally apply the utmost priority to personnel security clearance reform to ensure we can recruit and retain a trusted workforce for our nation's national security and public safety missions.

The system we have now is inadequate to meet today's challenges. On January 25, 2018, the Comptroller General announced that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) placed the security clearance process on its "High Risk List." On February 13, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that the security clearance system process is "broken" and in need of a "revolution." And on February 16 General Kelly himself issued a memo recognizing the need to "take action to streamline, harmonize, and modernize standards across the Executive Branch."

On Wednesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee heard from the GAO, industry representatives, and the senior government officials charged with overseeing and implementing the clearance process. The hearing highlighted serious shortcomings in how the government determines who may have access to the nation's secrets and classified facilities and networks.

The background investigation inventory has more than doubled in the last three years, with over 700,000 people currently waiting on a background check. Costs to run a check have nearly doubled, and timelines to process clearances far exceed the standards set in law. Furthermore, prompt recognition of security clearances granted at one agency at another is uneven. These inefficiencies cost the taxpayer millions of dollars, sap morale and productivity, and harm our nation's security.

We need a "whole of government" approach to tackling this challenge -- by harnessing the power of modern technology, instituting processes like "continuous evaluation," ensuring adequate funding, and ensuring uniform standards. These things require the Administration's top officials to treat security clearance as an urgent priority.

We look forward to working with you address the challenge of reforming and fixing our nation's security clearance process.


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