In the wake of Edward Snowden’s recent leaks to the media of classified intelligence gathering programs, a bipartisan group of senators yesterday introduced a bill aimed at improving government oversight of the security clearance process and to increase accountability related to falsifying background checks.
The Security Clearance Oversight and Reform Enhancement (SCORE) Act is sponsored by Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
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The bill calls for the Office of Personnel Management, which is in charge of conducting background checks of federal and contractor employees, to terminate or debar individuals employed or contracted by the office if they determine that the individual falsified a background investigation report or committed fraud related to such an investigation.
The bill also directs the Director of National Intelligence to provide guidance to federal department and agencies to determine if a position requires a security clearance.
“The process for granting security clearances across the federal government is broken,” Johnson said in a statement. “In conducting oversight of the process, we learned there is no government-wide standard for granting security clearances. We also learned that some government employee and contractors tasked with conducting background checks on those that will be entrusted with our nation’s secrets have fabricated the investigations. This means that security clearances have been granted and classified information is being handled by individuals that haven’t received appropriate scrutiny.”