Personnel Security Clearances: An Outcome-Focused Strategy Is Needed to Guide Implementation of the Reformed Clearance Process

GAO recommended that the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Deputy Director for Management, in the capacity as Chair of the Performance Accountability Council, ensure that the appropriate entities--such as the Performance Accountability Council, its subcommittees, or the Joint Reform Team--establish a strategic framework that would address our findings. OMB, ODNI, and DOD partially concurred with our recommendation and, in response to our recommendation, the leaders of the reform effort met the intent of our recommendation through two publications. In February 2010, the leaders of the reform effort established the Security and Suitability Process Reform Strategic Framework. Specifically, the strategic framework identified a mission statement and seven strategic goals for reciprocity, a database, automation, timeliness, alignment, continuous evaluation, and quality. Additionally, the framework identified performance measures for each of the strategic goals. The framework also included a strategic communications plan that provides a formal Performance Accountability Council communication strategy to sustain reform initiatives. It sets forth the objectives, methods, and responsibilities to ensure consistency of message and two-way communication in support of suitability and security clearance reform efforts. Another element of the strategic framework was a discussion of reform effort information technology initiatives, which listed agencies' roles and responsibilities for the implementation of the information technology strategy. Further, the strategic framework introduced elements of reform funding requirements, specifically stating that resources from DOD and OPM will be sufficient to implement the transformed security clearance process and that agencies will provide the Performance Accountability Council with reform implementation updates. In May, 2010, the leaders of the reform effort submitted a letter to a congressional oversight committee that further developed the outcome-focused performance measures introduced in the February 2010 strategic framework. In response to our recommendation, the publication of the strategic framework and the congressional letter have helped reform leaders align the reform effort with key practices for organizational transformations to better address long-standing problems with the security clearance process.