Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. HECK. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member. I am here to support the Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act.

Mr. Chair, I was just placed on the Intel Committee a year ago January, and I have learned an awful lot, most notably, how incredibly difficult it really is to do the work of an intelligence officer. And I want to, frankly, take this opportunity to thank all of the members of the IC for their dedication and service.

For as difficult a job as it is, it is even more difficult, if not impossible, to do it without a security clearance. In the first quarter--you are hearing this number correctly--of this year, the average processing time for a top security clearance was 534 days. That backlog creates difficulties in hiring in the intelligence and defense agencies. And, frankly, it is creating a legacy problem for our future.

And you are hearing this number correctly, too. The backlog of people waiting for those clearances is now over 700,000, and that is what has led the Government Accountability Office to declare this ``a high risk issue,'' and that means that it is one of the areas that the GAO believes is most in need of reform.

The country cannot wait 2 years to recruit top talent for our IC. Applicants for clearance, of course, should be carefully scrutinized, and the United States should take care that only responsible and trustworthy parties gain access to our Nation's classified information.

We absolutely should guard it as a national treasure. But we need to give the IC the people it needs to collect, process, analyze, and distribute information, pure and simple. So the bill before us today does, in fact, include language to address the issue of security clearances.

As we progress forward, we must do so methodically, with feedback from the most affected. We have a long process ahead of us, but if we don't take steps now, frankly, pretty soon it is going to be too late. We must address the security clearance dilemma, and we must pass this bill to begin that process.

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