S.Amdt. 2230

1. Rewrites section 931

   Replaces

   In S. 1197 · Placed on Calendar Senate

   SEC. 931. PERSONNEL SECURITY.

   (a) Comparative Analysis.--

   (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall, acting through the Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation[inserted: and in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget], submit to Congress a report setting forth a comprehensive analysis comparing the cost, schedule, and performance of personnel security clearance investigations and reinvestigations for employees and contractor personnel of the Department of Defense that are conducted by the Office of Personnel Management with the cost, schedule, and performance of personnel security clearance investigations and reinvestigations for such personnel that are conducted by the components of the Department of Defense.

   (2) Elements of analysis.--The analysis under paragraph (1) shall do the following:

   (A) Determine, for each of the Office of Personnel Management and the components of the Department that conduct personnel security investigations, the cost, schedule, and performance associated with personnel security investigations and reinvestigations of each type and level of clearance, and identify the elements that contribute to such cost, schedule, and performance.

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   (B) Identify mechanisms for permanently improving the transparency of the cost structure of personnel security investigations and reinvestigations.

   (b) Personnel Security for Department of Defense Employees and Contractors.--

   (1) In general.--If the Secretary of Defense determines that the current approach for obtaining personnel security investigations and reinvestigations for employees and contractor personnel of the Department of Defense is not the most advantageous approach for the Department, the Secretary shall develop a plan, by not later than October 1, 2014, for the transition of personnel security investigations and reinvestigations to the approach preferred by the Secretary.

   (2) Considerations.--In selecting the most advantageous approach preferred for the Department under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consider [struck: whether ][inserted: ways in which ]cost, schedule, and performance could be improved [struck: through increased reliance on private-sector entities to conduct, ][inserted: while conducting ]or [struck: provide][inserted: providing] supporting information for, personnel security investigations and reinvestigations for employees and contractor personnel of the Department.

   (c) Strategy for Continuous Modernization of Personnel Security.--

   (1) Strategy required.--The Secretary of Defense[struck: and ][inserted: , ]the Director of National Intelligence[struck: ][inserted: , and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget ]shall jointly develop and implement a strategy to continuously modernize all aspects of personnel security for the Department of Defense with the objectives of lowering costs, increasing efficiencies, enabling and encouraging reciprocity, and improving security.

   (2) Metrics.--

   (A) Metrics required.--In developing the strategy required by paragraph (1), the Secretary and the [struck: Director][inserted: Directors] shall jointly establish metrics to measure the effectiveness of the strategy in meeting the objectives specified in that paragraph.

   (B) Report.--At the same time the budget of the President for each of fiscal years 2015 through 2018 is submitted to Congress pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, the Secretary and the [struck: Director][inserted: Directors] shall jointly submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the metrics established under paragraph (1), including an assessment using the metrics of the effectiveness of the strategy in meeting the objectives specified in paragraph (1).

   (3) Elements.--In developing the strategy required by paragraph (1), the Secretary and the [struck: Director][inserted: Directors] shall consider, and may adopt, mechanisms for the following:

   (A) Elimination of manual or inefficient processes in investigations and reinvestigations for personnel security, wherever practicable, and automating and integrating the elements of the investigation process, including in the following:

   (i) The clearance application process.

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   (ii) Case management.

   (iii) Adjudication management.

   (iv) Investigation methods for the collection, analysis, storage, retrieval, and transfer of data and records.

   (v) Records management for access and eligibility determinations.

   (B) Elimination or reduction, where possible, of the use of databases and information sources that cannot be accessed and processed automatically electronically, or modification of such databases and information sources, if appropriate and cost-effective, to enable electronic access and processing[inserted: within and between agencies].

   (C) Access and analysis of government, publically available, and commercial data sources, including social media, that provide independent information pertinent to adjudication guidelines to improve quality and timeliness, and reduce costs, of investigations and reinvestigations.

   (D) Use of government-developed and commercial technology for continuous monitoring and evaluation of government and commercial data sources that can identify and flag information pertinent to adjudication guidelines and eligibility determinations.

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   (E) Standardization of forms used for routine reporting required of cleared personnel (such as travel, foreign contacts, and financial disclosures) and use of continuous monitoring technology to access databases containing such reportable information to independently obtain and analyze reportable data and events.

   (F) Establishment of an authoritative central repository of personnel security information that is accessible electronically at multiple levels of classification and eliminates technical barriers to rapid access to information necessary for eligibility determinations and reciprocal recognition thereof.

   (G) Elimination or reduction of the scope of, or alteration of the schedule for, periodic reinvestigations of cleared personnel, when such action is appropriate in light of the information provided by continuous monitoring or evaluation technology.

   (H) Electronic integration of personnel security processes and information systems with insider threat detection and monitoring systems, and pertinent law enforcement, counterintelligence and intelligence information, for threat detection and correlation.

   (I) Determination of the net value of implementing phased investigative approaches designed to reach an adjudicative decision sooner than is currently achievable by truncating investigations based on thresholds where no derogatory information or clearly unacceptably derogatory information is obtained through initial background checks.

   Struck: (4) Appropriate committees of congress defined.--In this subsection, the term "appropriate committees of Congress" means--

   Struck: (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and

   Struck: (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives.

   (d) Reciprocity of Clearances.--The Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence shall jointly ensure that the transition of personnel security clearances between and among Department of Defense components, Department contractors, and Department contracts proceeds as rapidly and inexpensively as possible, including through the following:

   (1) By providing for reciprocity of personnel security clearances among positions requiring personnel holding secret, top secret, or sensitive compartmented information clearances (the latter with a counterintelligence polygraph examination), to the maximum extent feasible consistent with national security requirements.

   (2) By permitting personnel, when feasible and consistent with national security requirements, to begin work in positions requiring additional security requirements, such as a [struck: full- scope ][inserted: full-scope ]polygraph examination, pending satisfaction of such additional requirements.

   (e) Benchmarks.--For purposes of carrying out the requirements of this section, the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence shall jointly determine, by not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the following:

   (1) The current level of mobility and personnel security clearance reciprocity of cleared personnel as personnel make a transition between Department of Defense components, between Department contracts, and between government and the private sector.

   (2) The costs due to lost productivity in inefficiencies in such transitions arising from personnel security clearance matters.

   Inserted: (f) Comptroller General Review.--

   Inserted: (1) Review required.--Not later than 150 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall carry out a review of the personnel security process.

   Inserted: (2) Objective of review.--The objective of the review required by paragraph (1) shall be to identify the following:

   Inserted: (A) Differences between the metrics used by the Department of Defense and other departments and agencies that grant security clearances in granting reciprocity for security clearances, and the manner in which such differences can be harmonized.

   Inserted: (B) The extent to which existing Federal Investigative Standards are relevant, complete, and sufficient for guiding agencies and individual investigators as they conduct their security clearance background investigations.

   Inserted: (C) The processes agencies have implemented to ensure quality in the security clearance background investigation process.

   Inserted: (D) The extent to which agencies have developed and implemented outcome-focused performance measures to track the quality of security clearance investigations and any insights from these measures.

   Inserted: (E) The processes agencies have implemented for resolving incomplete or subpar investigations, and the actions taken against government employees and contractor personnel who have demonstrated a consistent failure to abide by quality assurance measures.

   Inserted: (3) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the results of the review required by paragraph (1).

   Inserted: (g) Task Force on Records Access for Security Clearance Background Investigations.--

   Inserted: (1) Establishment.--The Suitability and Security Clearance Performance Accountability Council, as established by Executive Order No. 13467, shall convene a task force to examine the different policies and procedures that determine the level of access to public records provided by State and local authorities in response to investigative requests by Federal Government employees or contracted employees carrying out background investigations to determine an individual's suitability for access to classified information or secure government facilities.

   Inserted: (2) Membership.--The members of the task force shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:

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   Inserted: (A) The Chair of the Suitability and Security Clearance Performance and Accountability Council, who shall serve as chair of the task force.

   Inserted: (B) Representative from the Office of Personnel Management.

   Inserted: (C) Representative from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

   Inserted: (D) Representative from the Department of Defense responsible for administering security clearance background investigations.

   Inserted: (E) Representatives from Federal law enforcement agencies within the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security involved in security clearance background investigations.

   Inserted: (F) Representatives from State and local law enforcement agencies, including--

   Inserted: (i) agencies in rural areas that have limited resources and less than 500 officers; and

   Inserted: (ii) agencies that have more than 1,000 officers and significant technological resources.

   Inserted: (G) Representative from Federal, State, and local law enforcement associations involved with security clearance background administrative actions and appeals.

   Inserted: (H) Representatives from Federal, State, and local judicial systems involved in the sharing of records to support security clearance background investigations.

   Inserted: (3) Initial meeting.--The task force shall convene its initial meeting not later than 45 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

   Inserted: (4) Duties.--The task force shall do the following:

   Inserted: (A) Analyze the degree to which State and local authorities comply with investigative requests made by Federal Government employees or contractor employees carrying out background investigations to determine an individual's suitability for access to classified information or secure government facilities, including the degree to which investigative requests are required but never formally requested.

   Inserted: (B) Analyze limitations on the access to public records provided by State and local authorities in response to investigative requests by Federal Government employees and contractor employees described in subparagraph (A), including, but not be limited to, limitations relating to budget and staffing constraints on State and local authorities, any procedural and legal obstacles impairing Federal access to State and local law enforcement records, or inadequate investigative procedural standards for background investigators.

   Inserted: (C) Provide recommendations for improving the degree of cooperation and records-sharing between State and local authorities and Federal Government employees and contractor employees described in subparagraph (A).

   Inserted: (5) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the task force shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report setting forth a detailed statement of the findings and conclusions of the task force pursuant to this subsection, together with the recommendations of the task force for such legislative or administrative action as the task force considers appropriate.

   Inserted: (h) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this section, the term "appropriate committees of Congress" means--

   Inserted: (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and

   Inserted: (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives.

   Original wording

   Strike section 931 and insert the following:

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As printed