United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2008-04-09 monographic deposited born digital 34 p. GA 1.13:GAO-08-551T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-551T P0b002ee180387ddb f:d08551t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-551T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-551T GAO-08-551T Authentication Contractor personnel Department of Defense contractors Employees Entry security Facility security Federal employees Government facilities Identification cards Identity verification Internal controls Investigations by federal agencies Personnel security clearance programs Program evaluation Program management Regulatory agencies Security assessments Security clearance backlogs Security clearances Security investigations Security regulations Security threats Standards Strategic planning Program goals or objectives Program implementation GAO High Risk Series Testimony A81608 In an effort to increase the quality and security of federal identification (ID) practices, the President issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) in August 2004. This directive requires the establishment of a governmentwide standard for secure and reliable forms of ID. GAO was asked to testify on its report, being released today, assessing the progress selected agencies have made in implementing HSPD-12. For this report, GAO selected eight agencies with a range of experience in implementing ID systems and analyzed actions these agencies had taken. GAO was also asked to summarize challenges in the DOD personnel security clearance process. This overview is based on past work including reviews of clearance-related documents. Military servicemembers, federal workers, and industry personnel must obtain security clearances to gain access to classified information. Long-standing delays in processing applications for these clearances led GAO to designate the Department of Defense's (DOD) program as a high-risk area in 2005. In its report on HSPD-12, GAO made recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to, among other things, set realistic milestones for implementing the electronic authentication capabilities. GAO has also made recommendations to OMB and DOD to improve the security clearance process. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-551T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-551T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-551T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-551T.pdf GAO-08-551T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-551T Testimony GAO-08-551T; Employee Security: Implementation of Identification Cards and DOD's Personnel Security Clearance Program Need Improvement; Authentication Contractor personnel Department of Defense contractors Employees Entry security Facility security Federal employees Government facilities Identification cards Identity verification Internal controls Investigations by federal agencies Personnel security clearance programs Program evaluation Program management Regulatory agencies Security assessments Security clearance backlogs Security clearances Security investigations Security regulations Security threats Standards Strategic planning Program goals or objectives Program implementation GAO High Risk Series Public Law 108-458