[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7259 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7259

    To amend the National Security Act of 1947 to revise reporting 
              requirements related to security clearances.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 3, 2008

  Ms. Eshoo (for herself and Mr. Issa) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 
  and in addition to the Select Committee on Intelligence (Permanent 
Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the National Security Act of 1947 to revise reporting 
              requirements related to security clearances.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Security Clearance Oversight and 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. REPORTS RELATING TO SECURITY CLEARANCES.

    (a) Reports.--
            (1) In general.--Title V of the National Security Act of 
        1947 (50 U.S.C. 413 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
        the following new section:

                    ``reports on security clearances

    ``Sec. 508.  (a) Quadrennial Audit of Position Requirements.--
            ``(1) In general.--The President shall every four years 
        conduct an audit of how the executive branch determines whether 
        a security clearance is required for a particular position in 
        the Federal Government.
            ``(2) Submission.--Not later than 30 days after the 
        completion of an audit conducted under paragraph (1), the 
        President shall submit to Congress the results of such audit.
    ``(b) Report on Security Clearance Determinations.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than February 1 of each year, 
        the President (or a designee of the President) shall submit to 
        Congress a report on the security clearance process. Such 
        report shall include, for each security clearance level--
                    ``(A) the number of government employees who--
                            ``(i) held a security clearance at such 
                        level as of October 1 of the preceding year; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) were approved for a security 
                        clearance at such level during the preceding 
                        fiscal year;
                    ``(B) the number of contractors who--
                            ``(i) held a security clearance at such 
                        level as of October 1 of the preceding year; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) were approved for a security 
                        clearance at such level during the preceding 
                        fiscal year; and
                    ``(C) for each element of the intelligence 
                community--
                            ``(i) the amount of time it took to process 
                        the fastest 80 percent of security clearance 
                        determinations for such level;
                            ``(ii) the amount of time it took to 
                        process the fastest 90 percent of security 
                        clearance determinations for such level;
                            ``(iii) the number of open security 
                        clearance investigations for such level that 
                        have remained open for--
                                    ``(I) 4 months or less;
                                    ``(II) between 4 months and 8 
                                months;
                                    ``(III) between 8 months and 12 
                                months; and
                                    ``(IV) more than a year;
                            ``(iv) the percentage of reviews that 
                        result in a denial or revocation of a security 
                        clearance;
                            ``(v) the percentage of investigations that 
                        resulted in incomplete information; and
                            ``(vi) the percentage of investigations 
                        that did not result in enough information to 
                        make a decision on potentially adverse 
                        information.
            ``(2) Security clearance levels.--For purposes of paragraph 
        (1), the Director of National Intelligence may consider--
                    ``(A) security clearances at the level of 
                confidential and secret as one security clearance 
                level; and
                    ``(B) security clearances at the level of top 
                secret or higher as one security clearance level.
    ``(c) Director of OMB.--Not later than February 1 of each year, the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit to 
Congress a report on security clearance determinations completed or 
ongoing during the preceding fiscal year that have taken longer than 1 
year to complete. Such report shall include--
            ``(1) the number of security clearance determinations for 
        positions as employees of the Federal Government that required 
        more than 1 year to complete;
            ``(2) the number of security clearance determinations for 
        contractors that required more than 1 year to complete;
            ``(3) the agencies that investigated and adjudicated such 
        determinations; and
            ``(4) the cause of significant delays in such 
        determinations.''.
            (2) Report on metrics for adjudication quality.--Not later 
        than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
        President shall submit to Congress a report on security 
        clearance investigations and adjudications. Such report shall 
        include--
                    (A) Federal Government-wide adjudication guidelines 
                and metrics for adjudication quality;
                    (B) a plan to improve the professional development 
                of security clearance adjudicators;
                    (C) metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of 
                interagency clearance reciprocity; and
                    (D) Federal Government-wide investigation standards 
                and metrics for investigation quality.
    (b) Initial Audit.--The first audit required to be conducted under 
section 508(a)(1) of the National Security Act of 1947 (as added by 
subsection (a)) shall be completed not later than February 1, 2010.
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