Will a Clearance Make Your Job More Secure?

by George F. McClure

Our nation’s need for high-tech personnel with security clearances to meet demand in the defense and homeland security sectors has turned our attention recently to the clearance process itself. Long deployments of military reservists who held industry positions that require clearances have added to the demand for cleared workers.

EDS, with a large Navy contract to update computer installations at 8,000 locations from Iceland to Japan, encountered a cost and schedule setback when uncleared workers scheduled to complete installations at secure sites were turned away (online.wsj.com).

In another scenario, defense contractor Lockheed Martin is pursuing the acquisition of Titan Corporation, even though allegations of bribery exist in Titan’s international sales operations that would have to be cleared up first. Titan’s experience in advanced computer services could boost the company’s U.S. government information-technology business. What’s more, some 8,800 of Titan's 12,000 employees have security clearances and could be put to work immediately on classified projects (online.wsj.com).

Cleared Workers Have the Advantage

Individuals cannot apply for security clearances on their own before applying for a job that requires one. Clearances are only granted through the government, or through employers that have classified work, to workers who need them for their work assignments. Professionals who already have security clearances from previous employment are especially attractive to employers, since they can be put to work right away, without having to go through the time-consuming clearance process. In fact, employers are willing to hire and train people with active clearances but fewer skills, rather than hiring and clearing  better-qualified, but uncleared, job-seekers (www.prweb.com/releases/2004/3/prweb113861.htm).

The United States boasts approximately three million cleared workers, half in industry and half in government and the military. According to a February report from the General Accounting Office (GAO), the Department of Defense’s backlog of security clearance investigations was roughly 270,000, with another 90,000 cases in adjudication, totaling about 360,000 (www.gao.gov/highlights/d04344high.pdf).

Completing a clearance for a new employee used to take six to nine months. With the increased demand, the process can now take twice as long. Top-secret clearances take even longer to complete and must be renewed more frequently (five years for top-secret clearances, every 10 years for secret clearances, and every 15 years for confidential clearances).

Clearance Denials

During the past several years, applicants have been denied security clearances for a number of reasons, including:

• Excessive debts without the ability to pay them off
• Criminal conduct
• Current use of illegal drugs
• Past drug offenses without rehabilitation
• Falsifying application (e.g., omitting arrest history)
• Alcohol dependency and/or offenses such as DUI
• Aberrant sexual behavior or infidelity that could be used for blackmail
• Foreign influence, such as family members in a hostile country
• Maintaining dual citizenship or a foreign passport.

Applicants who can demonstrate mitigation through rehabilitation can overcome some of these problems. For example, past but no current illegal drug use may be judged as “not disqualifying.” A list of some of the cases that have been judged in the past is available at www.defenselink.mil/dodgc/doha/industrial/2004.html.

Capitol Hill to Consider Clearance Process

In May, the House Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), is scheduled to hold a hearing on complaints about the security clearance process. One industry group is advocating that companies be permitted to circumvent the clearance time delay by being allowed to get clearances for at least 20 percent more workers than they need for current contracts. The industry group also recommend that the budget for investigators be increased to help reduce the backlog. The GAO report estimated that it would take 8,000 investigators to clear the current backlog; about 4,200 investigators are doing the work today. Finally, the group advocates greater reciprocity among government agencies, so that a transferring employee who is already cleared would not have to get a new clearance.

Right now, we are in a Catch-22 situation: workers can’t get a new clearance unless they have a job that requires one. And employers cannot successfully bid on classified contracts unless they have the cleared employees to work on them.

 

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George McClure is chair IEEE-USA's Communications Committee, a member of the IEEE-USA Career & Workforce Policy Committee, and technology policy editor for IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer.