U.S. continuous security clearance vetting hits IT disaster
U.S. continuous security clearances system faces severe delays and budget overruns. The now $1.7B project is years behind schedule, affecting millions of federal workers.
In 2018, the U.S. government launched a plan to continuously vet federal employees and contractors who hold security clearances. The vetting process involves ongoing monitoring of criminal records, financial transactions, foreign travel, social media and other potential red flags regarding an individual's trustworthiness. The plan also included centralizing previously paper-based processes across the vast federal bureaucracy.
However, the IT system designed to support this initiative, Trusted Workforce 2.0, has encountered significant issues. Originally projected to be completed in 2019 for $700 million, the system's completion has been delayed by over five years, with expenses soaring to approximately $1.7 billion. Federal officials recently told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee that it will take another 18 months to become fully operational.
"I know getting these new systems right is hard, but it shouldn't be this hard," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the committee chair, at a hearing, calling the security clearance project a disaster. "This kind of screwup and inefficiency is what robs so many of our citizens of their trust in government."
Another issue was linked to project management by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), which oversees the project. Evaluators measured success by releasing small pieces of code, even though these pieces didn't add up to a working system, according to David Cattler, who was appointed director of the DCSA by the Defense Department (DOD) in March.
System shortcomings
Cattler explained to the committee that the project suffered from the lack of an accurate integrated master schedule -- a comprehensive project management tool outlining all the necessary steps for completion. This deficiency impaired the project's ability to accurately assess costs and timelines.
"The shortcomings will be set right under my direction," Cattler said.
It's essential that a timely and secure means of recruiting, onboarding, and retaining cleared personnel exist.
Marco RubioU.S. Senator, R-Fla.
Continuous vetting affects more than four million federal workers, including those who work in the DOD and contractors with security clearances. The program has since been expanded to include federal workers holding non-sensitive public trust status, which involves jobs that do not require access to national security information but handle sensitive information that could harm the government if released.
DCSA provides vetting services for 95% of the federal government. The continuous vetting system replaces paper-based processes involving periodic investigations, which occur at five-year to 10-year intervals. The outdated paper-based system also made it difficult for agencies to onboard new workers, with some waiting up to two years for top-secret security clearance approval.
"It's essential that a timely and secure means of recruiting, onboarding and retaining cleared personnel exist," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the committee vice chair.
Currently, it takes nine to 12 months to hire someone for an intelligence career. According to Stacey Dixon, principal deputy director of National Intelligence, in her written testimony, the goal is to reduce the security clearance process "to an aspirational 130 days," or just over four months.
Patrick Thibodeau is an editor at large for TechTarget Editorial who covers HCM and ERP technologies. He's worked for more than two decades as an enterprise IT reporter.
