U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) today pressed Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta for more details on how the agency plans to address the government security clearance processing backlog after OPM identified a vulnerability in the web-based platform that is used to complete and submit background investigation forms, which resulted in taking the system offline for an estimated four to six weeks.
OPM conducts 95 percent of the federal government’s background investigations for new and existing federal employees and contractors across more than 100 agencies. Last year, OPM completed more than one million background investigations.
In a letter to Director Archuleta, Sens. Warner and Kaine wrote, “With the e-QIP system now reportedly down for at least four to six weeks, it will cause significant disruption to the process through which information is submitted to allow OPM to process security clearances. Although the time that e-QIP is offline will allow OPM to address the current backlog, that down time will also mean additional submissions will continue to pile up, exacerbating the problem when e-QIP is brought back online.
“Although OPM has noted that it is working on alternative measures to address this looming crisis, it has failed to provide any detail as to its strategy that will give adequate assurance to the thousands of Virginians who depend on having proper security credentials in place to do their jobs.”
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