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<h1>Company allegedly misled government about security clearance checks</h1>
<h3>
By <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/tom-hamburger/2012/03/05/gIQABXKfTS_page.html" rel="author">Tom Hamburger</a> and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/zachary-a-goldfarb/2011/03/09/AB1OHIQ_page.html" rel="author">Zachary A. Goldfarb</a>, <span class="">Published: June 27</span>
</h3>
<p>Federal investigators have told lawmakers they have evidence that
USIS, the contractor that screened Edward Snowden for his top-secret
clearance, repeatedly misled the government about the thoroughness of
its background checks, according to people familiar with the matter.</p>
<p>The alleged transgressions are so serious that a federal watchdog
indicated he plans to recommend that the Office of Personnel Management,
which oversees most background checks, end ties with USIS unless it can
show it is performing responsibly, the people said.</p><p>Cutting off
USIS could present a major logistical quagmire for the nation’s
already-jammed security clearance process. The federal government relies
heavily on contractors to approve workers for some of its most
sensitive jobs in defense and intelligence. Falls Church-based USIS is
the largest single private provider for government background checks.</p><p>The
inspector general of OPM, working with the Justice Department, is
examining whether USIS failed to meet a contractual obligation that it
would conduct reviews of all background checks the company performed on
behalf of government agencies, the people familiar with the matter said,
speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation has
not yet been resolved.</p><p>After conducting an initial background
check of a candidate for employment, USIS was required to perform a
second review to make sure no important details had been missed. From
2008 through 2011, USIS allegedly skipped this second review in up to 50
percent of the cases. But it conveyed to federal officials that these
reviews had, in fact, been performed.</p><p>The shortcut made it appear
that USIS was more efficient than it actually was and may have triggered
incentive awards for the company, the people briefed on the matter
said. Investigators, who have briefed lawmakers on the allegations,
think the strategy may have originated with senior executives, the
people said.</p><p>Ray Howell, director of corporate communications at USIS, declined to comment on Thursday. </p><p>In
a statement last week, USIS said it received a subpoena from the
inspector general of OPM in January 2012. “USIS complied with that
subpoena and has cooperated fully with the government’s civil
investigative efforts,” the statement said. The company would not
comment on the Snowden case.</p><p>It is not known whether USIS did
anything improper on its 2011 background check of Snowden, the
30-year-old who leaked documents about the inner workings of the NSA and
is now the subject of a global drama. He gained access to those
documents after he was cleared to work at NSA contractor Booz Allen
Hamilton.</p><p>Last week, Patrick E. McFarland, the inspector general
of OPM, said he has concerns about Snowden’s background check. “We do
believe that there may be some problems,” he said.</p><p>The broader
concerns about background checks are not limited to USIS. McFarland’s
office has 47 open investigations into alleged wrongdoing by individuals
in the background checks industry, according to a statement from the
inspector general's office. Separately, since 2006, the watchdog has won
convictions in 18 cases in which employees claimed to have verified
information that ultimately turned out to be false or not even checked.</p><p>“There
is an alarmingly insufficient level of oversight of the federal
investigative-services program,” McFarland said last week in
congressional testimony. “A lack of independent verification of the
organization that conducts these important background investigations is a
clear threat to national security.”</p><p>McFarland’s office declined
to comment on the details of the investigation. “We have never indicated
whether the case was criminal, civil, or administrative,” a statement
from the office said.</p><p>Last week, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
said USIS is the subject of a criminal probe as a result of a
“systematic failure” to conduct background checks. She did not
elaborate. A spokesperson said Thursday that the senator stands by her
statement.</p><p>Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who chairs a Homeland
Security subcommittee, said he plans to introduce legislation within two
weeks to increase oversight of the security clearance process,
including giving inspectors general more power to audit funding and
other aspects of the massive effort to provide 4.9 million Americans
with authorized access to classified and other sensitive government
information.</p><p>“I cannot believe that this is handled in such a
shoddy and cavalier manner,” Tester said in an interview Thursday. “I
personally believe that if you are under criminal investigation, you
should be suspended from the process until it is resolved.”</p><p>Tester
added: “We have spent hundreds of billions in this country trying to
keep classified information classified and to keep people from outside
coming in. And what we see here is that we have a problem from the
inside.”</p><p>USIS, which was spun off from the federal government in
the 1990s, has become the dominant player in the background checks
business. It does about 45 percent of all background checks for OPM,
according to congressional staffers. USIS has 7,000 employees.</p><p>USIS
has been under financial pressure in recent years because of federal
cutbacks and less generous contracts from the government, according to
financial analysts working at Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. The
firm’s parent company, Altegrity, is owned by Providence Equity
Partners, a private equity firm. USIS has two main competitors, KeyPoint
Government Solutions and CACI.</p><p>
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