United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-08-18 monographic deposited born digital 25 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-00-215 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-215 P0b002ee18038cfd3 f:ns00215 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-215 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-215 NSIAD-00-215 Security clearances Military personnel Classified information Civilian employees Contractor personnel Data bases Projections Statistical methods DOD Personnel Security Investigation Program DOD Joint Personnel Adjudication System Letter Report NSIAD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) estimates of its reinvestigation backlog, focusing on: (1) how DOD estimates the backlog; (2) the soundness of DOD's backlog estimates; and (3) DOD's plans to address the backlog problem.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) in the absence of a Department-wide database that can accurately measure the reinvestigation backlog, DOD estimates the backlog on an ad-hoc basis, using two primary methods--manual counts and statistical sampling; (2) using the counting method, the military services and Defense agencies ask security managers to review their personnel and count those overdue for a reinvestigation; (3) the counts are totalled to provide a DOD-wide backlog estimate; (4) using the sampling method, DOD makes a rough--and known to be inaccurate--estimate from existing personnel security databases; (5) it then selects a random sample of individuals from this estimate and surveys them to determine whether they are associated with DOD, require a security clearance, and are overdue for a reinvestigation; (6) DOD uses this information and statistical analysis to develop a refined and more accurate estimate; (7) DOD's two most recent estimates each used a different method and arrived at similar results--about one of every five individuals with a security clearance is overdue for a reinvestigation; (8) however, both estimates had methodological limitations, were 6 months old or older by the time they were reported, and excluded thousands of overdue reinvestigations because they used a restricted backlog definition; (9) using the counting method, DOD reported that the backlog totalled 505,786, however, the estimate's accuracy is questionable; (10) using the sampling method, a DOD contractor estimated the backlog to be between 451,757 and 558,552, however the contractor did not verify certain data; (11) DOD recognizes that the reinvestigation backlog is a problem; (12) after not making progress in meeting an earlier goal to eliminate the backlog, the services and other Defense agencies, at the direction of the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the DOD Comptroller, have begun to formulate plans to eliminate the backlog by March 31, 2002; (13) DOD also plans to implement a new personnel security database in mid-2001; (14) among other things, the database is designed to include information that could allow real-time counts of overdue reinvestigations; and (15) however, DOD has not specified how it plans to ensure that future reinvestigation requests are submitted when they are due or use the information in the new personnel security database system to help manage the reinvestigation program. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-215/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-215.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-215/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-215.pdf GAO/NSIAD-00-215 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-00-215 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-00-215; DOD Personnel: More Actions Needed to Address Backlog of; Security clearances Military personnel Classified information Civilian employees Contractor personnel Data bases Projections Statistical methods DOD Personnel Security Investigation Program DOD Joint Personnel Adjudication System