Security clearance flaws (USAT editorial)
The Editorial Board, USA TODAY
6:59 p.m. EDT September 29, 2013
... Snowden, a high school dropout who worked for the government and then a private contractor, had his top-secret clearance renewed in 2011 based on interviews with just two people: his mother and his girlfriend, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Alexis won his security clearance in 2008 despite lying about a 2004 arrest for shooting out the tires of a man with whom he had been feuding — and getting caught in that lie ...
The number of people with security clearances is unmanageably huge. About 4.9 million people, including employees of private contractors, like Snowden, hold some level of security clearance, and the numbers are growing. Last year, OPM did 50% more top-secret investigations and reviews than in 2005. To cope with the overload, OPM outsources three of every four investigations to private firms. The biggest contractor, USIS, which handled the Snowden and Alexis checks, is itself under investigation for allegedly failing to adequately conduct background investigations ...
In all, it must sound like heaven to a spy. Clearance is readily obtained, vetting can be cursory, information is loosely secured and accountability is diffuse ...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/09/29/security-clearance-snowden-navy-yard-shooter-editorials-debates/2892895/
