Security Clearances

The total number of security clearances held by federal government employees and contractors at the end of fiscal year 2012 was 4.92 million, compared to 4.86 million in FY-11, according to a report to Congress submitted by the office of the director for national intelligence late last week.

The April 12 report states:

Although agencies are making significant progress to improve the timeliness of security clearance determinations, the ODNI will continue to stress the need for improvements in the investigative and adjudicative clearance processes. The IC faces challenges in clearing individuals with unique or critical skills -- such as highly desirable language abilities -- who often have significant foreign associations that may take additional time to investigate and adjudicate. Further, compartmentalization and variations in information technology platforms within the IC are impediments to the implementation of automated systems that have the potential to improve the timeliness of processing non-issue cases and allow security specialists to concentrate on issue cases.