[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 99 (Thursday, June 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3521]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 522. Mr. WARNER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2020 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place in title X, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. IMPROVING QUALITY OF INFORMATION IN BACKGROUND 
                   INVESTIGATION REQUEST PACKAGES.

       (a) Report on Metrics and Best Practices.--Not later than 
     180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
     Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security 
     Agency, which serves as the primary executive branch service 
     provider for background investigations for eligibility for 
     access to classified information, eligibility to hold a 
     sensitive position, and for suitability and fitness for other 
     matters pursuant to Executive Order 13467 (50 U.S.C. 3161 
     note; relating to reforming processes related to suitability 
     for Government employment, fitness for contractor employees, 
     and eligibility for access to classified national security 
     information), shall, in consultation with the Security, 
     Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability 
     Council established under such executive order, submit to 
     Congress a report on--
       (1) metrics for assessing the completeness and quality of 
     packages for background investigations submitted by agencies 
     requesting background investigations from the Defense 
     Counterintelligence and Security Agency;
       (2) rejection rates of background investigation submission 
     packages due to incomplete or erroneous data, by agency; and
       (3) best practices for ensuring full and complete 
     information in background investigation requests.
       (b) Annual Report on Performance.--Not later than 270 days 
     after the date of the enactment of this Act and not less 
     frequently than once each year thereafter, the Security, 
     Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability 
     Council shall submit to Congress a report on performance 
     against the metrics and return rates identified in paragraphs 
     (1) and (2) of subsection (a).
       (c) Improvement Plans.--
       (1) Identification.--Not later than one year after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, executive agents under 
     Executive Order 13467 (50 U.S.C. 3161 note) shall identify 
     agencies in need of improvement with respect to the quality 
     of the information in the background investigation 
     submissions of the agencies as reported in subsection (b).
       (2) Plans.--Not later than 90 days after an agency is 
     identified under paragraph (1), the head of the agency shall 
     provide the executive agents referred to in such paragraph 
     with a plan to improve the performance of the agency with 
     respect to the quality of the information in the agency's 
     background investigation submissions.
                                 ______