WASHINGTON _ The federal government expects to slash a 600,000-case backlog of people waiting for security clearances in half by springtime, the No. 2 official in the U.S. intelligence community said Tuesday.
The backlog is caused in part because the nation's 17 intelligence agencies have not had common standards, but new uniform standards will reduce the investigations required when employees move agencies or advance in their careers, said Susan M. Gordon, principal deputy at the nation's Directorate of National Intelligence.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, applauded Gordon's goal, noting that the clearance backlog was itself a threat to national security by hindering recruitment to fill intelligence jobs.
