U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said he’s pleased with the federal government’s “significant improvements” to reform the nation’s security clearance process.
“The investigation backlog has come down from 725,000 cases in early 2018 to a steady-state level of just over 200,000 today,” Sen. Burr said following a closed-door hearing the committee held on Wednesday. “With the backlog under better control, the next phase of Trusted Workforce 2.0 is about to begin.”
Trusted Workforce 2.0, an interagency initiative to transform the national security workforce, was authorized under the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2018, 2019, and 2020, which the president signed into law in December 2019.
The law contains an entire title on clearance reform included by the Senate Intelligence Committee that will modernize, simplify and improve transparency of the security clearance process; further reduce backlogs; improve information sharing with industry; and consider today’s mobile workforce, according to Sen. Burr’s office.
“These reforms cannot come a moment too soon,” Sen. Burr said in his statement. “Our intelligence community is only as good as its people, but too often our most promising recruits get stuck in a discouraging, years-long clearance process before they can begin work.”
The delays, he added, disproportionately affect first- or second-generation Americans, “folks who possess deep cultural understanding and diverse perspectives that are invaluable” to the intelligence community.
“Our system should be equipped to welcome a patriotic, first-generation Chinese-American who has spoken Mandarin since she was a child, while at the same time excluding the Edward Snowdens of the world who would put our nation’s safety at risk,” said Sen. Burr.