**GAO-06-1070**                      Published: Sep 28, 2006. Publicly Released: Oct 30, 2006.                  

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## Highlights

The damage that unauthorized disclosure of classified information can cause to national security necessitates the prompt and careful consideration of who is granted a security clearance. However, long-standing delays and other problems with DOD's clearance program led GAO to designate it a high-risk area in January 2005. DOD transferred its investigations functions to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in February 2005. The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Deputy Director for Management is coordinating governmentwide efforts to improve the clearance process. Congress asked GAO to examine the clearance process for industry personnel. This report addresses the timeliness of the process and completeness of documentation used to determine the eligibility of industry personnel for top secret clearances. To assess timeliness, GAO examined 2,259 cases of personnel granted top secret eligibility in January and February 2006. For the completeness review, GAO compared documentation in 50 randomly sampled initial clearances against federal standards.

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## Recommendations for Executive Action

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## Topics

Government Operations

Classified defense informationClassified informationEligibility determinationsEmployeesPolicy evaluationRegulatory agenciesSecurity clearancesGovernment delaysTimelinessJudges