Social Media Use in Clearance Investigations Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I think this bill is long overdue and recognizes the internet world in which we live and operate.

This bill would require the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to issue a report to Congress on the use of social media checks in background investigations for security clearances.

In recent years, a number of agencies have begun pilot programs to help develop the best methods of incorporating social media into those background checks. For example, the Army initiated a pilot program that found that while checking social media is a

valuable tool, it can be costly and may raise some legal issues.

This bill would require that OPM conduct a comprehensive study on those issues and report back to the Congress. This one-time report would describe the current uses of social media postings for investigative purposes and any legal concerns or impediments that may arise. In addition, the report would summarize the results of any pilot programs on the use of social media conducted to date and provide cost estimates for implementing their widespread use in background investigative processes.

The report would greatly assist Congress, I believe, in determining whether further legislative action is needed when it comes to the Federal Government's use of social media in background investigations.

This bill was approved without opposition by our committee, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, last year, and I certainly commend it to our colleagues today.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Lynch for their leadership on what I think is a commonsense measure that will actually improve the process.

Mr. Speaker, I urge every Member to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, we think this is a commonsense bill. I agree with the sentiments just expressed by our friend from Florida that, in today's day and age, we can't not take cognizance of social media, and it can be a useful tool in evaluating someone's security clearance application.

We also understand it could be a tool that is used to invade people's privacy, and we want to avoid that. That is why what this bill does is call for a report looking at all of the legal ramifications and the practicality of utilizing this tool to get to a better outcome in the process of security clearances.

Mr. Speaker, I support the bill and commend it to our colleagues.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3737) to provide for a study on the use of social media in security clearance investigations.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3737, the Social Media Use in Clearance Investigations Act of 2017, introduced by the gentleman from Florida, Representative DeSantis.

According to the Pew Research Center, 7 in 10 Americans use social media today. A significant portion of those Americans' personal and professional interactions occur online. It is just common sense that the government should check the social media of individuals who apply for security clearances, but it doesn't.

H.R. 3737 will move the government toward implementing checks of social media for individuals we trust with our country's most sensitive information.

The bill requires a study of the use of social media in security clearance investigations to inform government-wide implementation of social media checks. The study will provide comprehensive information on existing pilot programs, lessons learned, and costs.

We must begin the process of strengthening the system now, and that starts with determining best practices for moving forward.

H.R. 3737 will help ensure that government checks social media before issuing security clearances.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. DeSantis), the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in the private sector, if an employer is going to hire somebody, a lot of times they will do a Google search, they will check social media postings to try to learn a little bit more about this prospective employee.

It may be hard to believe, but the Federal Government often fails to conduct a simple internet search on individuals before they are trusted with a security clearance.

Publicly available social media is one of the best ways to understand an individual's interests and intentions, but our investigatory process still focuses on interviewing the applicant's family, friends, and neighbors. For over a decade, various agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, have conducted studies and pilot programs to assess the effectiveness of social media checks in security clearance investigations. Congress has not been provided those results.

What this bill will do is it will require these agencies to identify best practices so that we can use this going forward to make sure that the people who are employed by this government, armed with a security clearance, who have access to sensitive information that puts the security of the country at risk, that these are people whom we want to have there and they are not folks who have ulterior designs.

A lot of times it is going to be much more informative to look at their publicly available writings than to talk to somebody who may have lived next door to them in an apartment 10 years ago.

I think that this bill is overdue.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) for cosponsoring it for me, and I am proud to be here today as the sponsor. I think this should have bipartisan support. I think it will give us some good answers and we can move forward and modernize this process.