Pentagon Halts Contractor Clearances

The Washington Post ^ | April 29, 2006 | Renae Merle

[George Smiley]

The Pentagon stopped processing security clearances for government contractors this week, potentially exacerbating a shortage of employees authorized to work on the government's most secret programs.

The Defense Security Service blamed overwhelming demand and a budget shortfall for the halt, which caught the government contracting community by surprise. Already, 3,000 applications have been put on hold, said Cindy McGovern, a DSS spokeswoman.

"We're holding them [the applications] now to see if we can resolve the issue. The more drastic step would be not accepting them" at all, McGovern said, a step the agency considered but dropped for now.

The demand for security clearances among private companies has grown dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as the government increasingly relies on contractors to do intelligence gathering and work on classified programs. There has been growing frustration with the wait time, which some companies have described as up to a year, to obtain clearances for new employees. Some firms have reverted to gimmicks and large bonuses to attract employees with pre-existing clearances, and industry officials worry that this week's action will increase competition and salary demands.

The move affects not only defense contractors, but also those who work on projects for more than 20 other agencies, including NASA and the Department of Homeland Security.

[last american]

Then some people need to be going to jail.

You have NO idea the amount of fraud that is perpetrated in military contract work. After having seen what I did, I have higher regards for crack dealers than I do military contractors. I can say without hesitation that if the military budget was cut by 50% and the money spent correctly, it would not effect our readiness one iota.

[Mr Rogers]

I suspect you mean if the ACQUISITION budget was cut 50%. The majority of defense spending has nothing to do with buying things.

At one time, I believed the big contractors were still, at heart, Americans. Having worked for a few years with acquisition, I now believe the big contractors will screw America every chance they get.

[last american]

At one time, I believed the big contractors were still, at heart, Americans. Having worked for a few years with acquisition, I now believe the big contractors will screw America every chance they get.

Oh you got that right... and the really sad thing is, if you work for a mil contractor and you are so gutless as to kiss arse for "pole position" you get paid HUGE bucks... and most of the guys working there had absolutely no problem with screwing the taxpayers. They honestly believed they "deserved" the salaries they were getting while doing absolutely nothing. I worked with a couple of guys that were running businesses out of their cubicles. One guy actually didn't show up for about 2 months (said he had to work on his house) and still got paid. The attitude of entitlement is rampant in military contract work.

[TSgt]

Interesting...

I've got a TS (SSBI) clearance and can't seem to leverage it anywhere...locally at least...

[r9etb]

(saying that is a security violation, Mike....)

[dljordan]

"One guy actually didn't show up for about 2 months (said he had to work on his house) and still got paid."

Kind of reminds me of the movie "Office Space". I have a friend that got transferred to a new position and they just forgot about him. He sat there for a year with nothing to do until he got so frustrated he retired. I recently got tranferred to a new account and sat around two months waiting for a security clearance. It almost drove me crazy.

[jpl]

I can say without hesitation that if the military budget was cut by 50% and the money spent correctly, it would not effect our readiness one iota.

I'm not going to deny that some fraud exists in defense as it does in all areas of government, but respectfully, I believe this statement is nonsense.

Although it has gone up a bit in the last couple of years with Iraq, defense spending today, both as a share of GDP and a share of all discretionary spending, is pretty close to being as low as it's been since 1940. We're fighting our wars today on the cheap like never before.

Oh, and welcome to Free Republic.

[TSgt]

(saying that is a security violation, Mike....)

You obviously don't know anything about the defense industry or clearances.

Stating your clearance is not a security violation and is required for many job fairs...

[r9etb]

Chest thumping about your clearances is stupid, Mike. I'm surprised you didn't learn that.

[TSgt]

Nobody's chest thumping, I simply made a statement that I cannot leverage my current clearance locally.

Who pissed in your Cheerios?.

Or were you denied a clearance for mental reasons?...

[r9etb]

You're chest thumping. Clearances aren't for showing off, Mike.

[TSgt]

Whatever...orbitologist...