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News Release
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Tel: 202-606-2402
OPM Reiterates Its Commitment To Processing Security Clearances
Associate Director Kathy L. Dillaman Discusses Progress/ Challenges Of Background Investigations and Security Clearances
“In 2006 alone, we expect to process more than 1.7 million investigations,” Dillaman said. “Thanks to the cooperation of Federal agencies and advancements in technology, we are making great strides in improving the timeliness of investigations and reducing our caseload.”
Dillaman said OPM and the major clearance granting agencies have made steady progress in meeting the four main requirements of OPM’s background investigation performance improvement plan, aimed at increasing the speed and effectiveness with which Federal background investigations are conducted and security clearances are processed. The four requirements are improving accuracy of workload projections, enhancing timeliness and quality of agency investigations requests, enhancing timeliness of investigations, and enhancing timeliness of adjudications.
Dillaman said the improvements can primarily be attributed to staffing and productivity increases, but cautioned Congress of a rising inventory of pending investigations due to access problems involving third-party record information.
“Our main challenge in this department is the difficulty of obtaining information from third-party record providers,” Dillaman said. “Investigations cannot be closed without such information, and we continue to experience significant delays in obtaining information from Federal, state, and local record systems.”
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the leader in workforce management for the federal government. Our agency builds, strengthens, and serves a federal workforce of 2.2 million employees with programs like hiring assistance, healthcare and insurance, retirement benefits, and much more. We provide agencies with policies, guidance, and best practices for supporting federal workers, so they can best serve the American people.