I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 490 

To provide for a strategic plan to reform and improve the security clearance 

and background investigation processes of the Federal Government, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 22, 2015 

Mr. LYNCH (for himself, Mr. CUMMINGS, and Ms. NORTON) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide for a strategic plan to reform and improve the 

security clearance and background investigation processes of the Federal Government, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Security Clearance Re5 form Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SECURITY CLEARANCE PROCESS REFORM PLAN. 

2 (a) PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after the date 

3 of enactment of this Act, the President shall submit a 

4 strategic plan to the appropriate congressional committees 

5 to improve security clearance and background investiga6 tion activities carried out by the Federal Government. 

7 (b) CONTENTS OF PLAN.—The plan submitted under 

8 subsection (a) shall— 

9 (1) develop and establish a continuous evalua10 tion or monitoring system that shall— 

11 (A) on a continual basis, access Federal, 

12 State, and local government and commercially 

13 available information, including financial credit 

14 history, currency transactions, court records, 

15 traffic violations, arrest records, terrorist and 

16 criminal watch lists, foreign travel, and online 

17 social media; 

18 (B) provide real-time updates or notifica19 tions with respect to information relevant to ad20 judication guidelines concerning whether a 

21 cleared individual is eligible for such individ22 ual’s security clearance; and 

23 (C) reduce or eliminate the schedule of any 

24 periodic reinvestigation of a cleared individual; 

25 (2) ensure that— 


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1 (A) the background of each cleared indi2 vidual is monitored on a continual basis; and 

3 (B) any covered individual who is not a 

4 cleared individual is not subject to continuous 

5 evaluation or monitoring; 

6 (3) ensure the effective, efficient, and timely 

7 completion of background investigations relating to a 

8 covered individual’s eligibility for a security clear9 ance; 

10 (4) improve procedures to require information 

11 sharing between agencies concerning— 

12 (A) potentially derogatory security infor13 mation regarding a covered individual that may 

14 impact the eligibility of any such individual for 

15 a security clearance; and 

16 (B) adjudications with respect to any cov17 ered individual; 

18 (5) enhance cooperation and information shar19 ing between any State or local law enforcement 

20 agency and any agency; 

21 (6) enhance methods for reducing or elimi22 nating manual processes with respect to security 

23 clearance background investigations, and automating 

24 and integrating the elements of such investigations 

25 and adjudication processes, including— 


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1 (A) the security clearance application proc2 ess; 

3 (B) field investigator reporting; 

4 (C) investigation case management; 

5 (D) the collection, analysis, storage, re6 trieval, and transfer of data and records; 

7 (E) the submission of any background in8 vestigation report to an agency for adjudication; 

9 and 

10 (F) records management for security clear11 ance adjudication determinations; 

12 (7) reduce or eliminate the use of databases 

13 and information sources that cannot be accessed and 

14 processed electronically, or modify such databases 

15 and information sources to enable electronic access 

16 and processing; 

17 (8) increase the use of digitally processed fin18 gerprints as a substitute for ink or paper prints to 

19 reduce error rates and improve portability of data; 

20 (9) develop Federal Governmentwide perform21 ance measures, based on the Federal Investigative 

22 Standards (as promulgated by the Director and the 

23 Director of National Intelligence), to measure the 

24 quality of background investigations conducted by 

25 the Federal Government; 


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1 (10) require that, with respect to any back2 ground investigation activities, a Federal employee 

3 conducts— 

4 (A) any final quality or integrity assurance 

5 review conducted by an agency of a background 

6 investigation; 

7 (B) any interview of a covered individual 

8 with respect to a background investigation; and 

9 (C) any background investigation of a cov10 ered individual to determine the person’s eligi11 bility for a security clearance at the Top Secret 

12 level or higher; 

13 (11) develop procedures that ensure that any 

14 information collected pursuant to the plan with re15 spect to a covered individual, including information 

16 collected from online social media, shall be verified 

17 for authenticity; and 

18 (12) provide a detailed description of the esti19 mated costs of implementing the plan. 

20 (c) DELEGATION.—The President may select at least 

21 one agency to develop or implement the plan required 

22 under this section. In the preceding sentence, the term 

23 ‘‘agency’’ means— 

24 (1) any agency as that term is defined in sec25 tion 6(1), but does not include any military departVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Jan 29, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H490.IH H490

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1 ment (as that term is defined in section 102 of title 

2 5, United States Code); or 

3 (2) the Suitability and Security Clearance Per4 formance Accountability Council (as established by 

5 Executive Order No. 13467). 

6 (d) LEVELS OF SCRUTINY.—The plan required under 

7 this section may require different levels of continuous eval8 uation scrutiny with respect to Confidential, Secret, or 

9 Top Secret or higher security clearances. 

10 (e) USE OF PRE-EXISTING SYSTEMS OR DATA11 BASES.—In carrying out the requirements of this section, 

12 the President may incorporate or enhance any systems or 

13 databases operated by the Federal Government, including 

14 the database established under section 3001(e) of Public 

15 Law 108–458. 

16 (f) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President shall fully im17 plement the plan required under this section not later than 

18 1 year after the date of submission of such plan to the 

19 appropriate congressional committees. 

20 SEC. 3. ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST. 

21 Beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act 

22 for contracts entered into after such date, the Director 

23 of the Office of Personnel Management may not award 

24 a contract for— 


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1 (1) investigative support services to an entity if 

2 that entity also has, at the time of award of the con3 tract or at any time during the performance of the 

4 contract, another contract in effect with the Federal 

5 Government (or with another contractor of the Gov6 ernment at any tier) to provide background inves7 tigation fieldwork services; or 

8 (2) background investigation fieldwork services 

9 to an entity if that entity also has, at the time of 

10 award of the contract or at any time during the per11 formance of the contract, another contract in effect 

12 with the Federal Government (or with another con13 tractor of the Government at any tier) to provide in14 vestigative support services. 

15 SEC. 4. STATE AND LOCAL COOPERATION. 

16 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

17 of enactment of this Act and each year thereafter, the Di18 rector shall submit a report to the appropriate congres19 sional committees listing any State or local entity covered 

20 by the definition of ‘‘criminal justice agency’’ in section 

21 9101(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code, that has failed 

22 to cooperate with three or more requests of the Director 

23 issued under section 9101(b)(1) of such title. 

24 (b) WITHHOLDING OF BYRNE-JAG FUNDS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—For any fiscal year after fis2 cal year 2015, a jurisdiction that fails, as deter3 mined by the Director to substantially comply with 

4 criminal history record information requests shall 

5 not receive the percentage specified in paragraph (2) 

6 of the funds that would otherwise be allocated for 

7 the subsequent fiscal year to the jurisdiction under 

8 subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime 

9 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

10 3750 et seq.). The Director shall provide the Attor11 ney General with a list of any jurisdictions that 

12 failed to substantially comply with the criminal his13 tory record information requests in the prior fiscal 

14 year and the Attorney General shall make the appro15 priate amount of reductions. 

16 (2) APPLICABLE PERCENTAGES.—The applica17 ble percentages are as follows: 

18 (A) FIRST YEAR OF NONCOMPLIANCE.— 

19 Except as provided in subparagraph (B), for 

20 each fiscal year that a jurisdiction fails to sub21 stantially comply with criminal history record 

22 information requests, the percentage specified is 

23 10 percent. 

24 (B) SUBSEQUENT YEAR OF NONCOMPLI25 ANCE.—For each succeeding consecutive fiscal 


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1 year after a fiscal year referred to in subpara2 graph (A) that a jurisdiction fails to substan3 tially comply with criminal history record infor4 mation requests, the percentage specified is 10 

5 percent multiplied by the number of such con6 secutive fiscal years that the jurisdiction has 

7 failed to substantially comply with criminal his8 tory record information requests (not to exceed 

9 100 percent). 

10 (3) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated 

11 under a program referred to in this section to a ju12 risdiction for failure to substantially comply with 

13 criminal history record information requests, shall be 

14 reallocated under that program to jurisdictions that 

15 have not failed to substantially comply with criminal 

16 history record information requests, or may be re17 allocated to a jurisdiction from which they were 

18 withheld to be used solely for the purpose of com19 plying with section 9101(b)(1) of title 5, United 

20 States Code. 

21 (4) NONCOMPLIANCE.—For purposes of this 

22 subsection, the term ‘‘fails to substantially comply 

23 with criminal history record information requests’’ 

24 means failure to comply with 3 or more requests re25 ceived during a fiscal year under section 9101(b)(1) 


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1 of title 5, United States Code, during that fiscal 

2 year. 

3 (5) RULE OF ATTRIBUTION.—In the case of a 

4 jurisdiction that fails to substantially comply with 

5 criminal history record information requests, if that 

6 jurisdiction is subject to the requirements of section 

7 505(d)(4) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

8 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3755(d)(4)), then 

9 the amount of funds that would be provided to other 

10 jurisdictions that are party to the joint application 

11 required under such section 505(d)(4) may not be 

12 reduced and only the funds for the jurisdiction that 

13 has failed to substantially comply may be reduced. 

14 (c) REQUESTS FROM CONTRACTORS ACTING ON BE15 HALF OF COVERED AGENCIES; CLARIFICATION OF PO16 LICE RECORDS.—Section 9101 of title 5, United States 

17 Code, is amended— 

18 (1) by adding at the end the following new sub19 section: 

20 ‘‘(g) Criminal justice agencies shall accept and com21 ply with requests for criminal history record information 

22 pursuant to this section regardless of whether a request 

23 is submitted directly by a covered agency or by a con24 tractor of a covered agency acting on the agency’s be25 half.’’; and 


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1 (2) in subsection (a)(2)— 

2 (A) after ‘‘criminal charges’’, by inserting 

3 the following: ‘‘(including descriptions of the in4 cidents or events leading to or on which the ar5 rests, indictments, informations, or other formal 

6 charges are based)’’; and 

7 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘The term also includes information pertaining 

9 to arrests that do not result in the arrestee 

10 being charged with or convicted of a criminal 

11 offense.’’. 

12 SEC. 5. REPORTS. 

13 (a) QUALITY REVIEW.—Not later than 90 days after 

14 the date of submission of the plan under section 2 and 

15 each year thereafter, the Director shall submit a report 

16 to the appropriate congressional committees that— 

17 (1) evaluates the quality of background inves18 tigations conducted by OPM during the previous 

19 year based on the performance measures developed 

20 pursuant to the plan submitted under section 2; and 

21 (2) includes information on the percentage of 

22 background investigations conducted by OPM that 

23 meet Federal Investigative Standards (as promul24 gated by the Director and the Director of National 

25 Intelligence). 


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1 (b) REPORTS UNDER THE INTELLIGENCE REFORM

2 AND TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT OF 2004.—Section 

3 3001(h)(1) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Pre4 vention Act of 2004 (50 U.S.C. 3341(h)(1)) is amended 

5 by striking ‘‘through 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) AGENCY.—Except as provided otherwise in 

9 this Act, the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 

10 that term in section 3001(a)(1) of Public Law 108– 

11 458 and includes the United States Postal Service 

12 and the Postal Regulatory Commission. 

13 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT14 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com15 mittees’’ means— 

16 (A) the Committee on Oversight and Gov17 ernment Reform of the House of Representa18 tives; 

19 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security 

20 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

21 (C) the Permanent Select Committee on 

22 Intelligence of the House of Representatives; 

23 and 

24 (D) the Select Committee on Intelligence 

25 of the Senate. 


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1 (3) BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION.—The term 

2 ‘‘background investigation’’ means any investigation 

3 or reinvestigation required for the purpose of deter4 mining whether a covered individual may hold a se5 curity clearance issued by an agency. 

6 (4) BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION FIELDWORK

7 SERVICES.—The term ‘‘background investigation 

8 fieldwork services’’ means the investigatory fieldwork 

9 conducted to determine a covered individual’s eligi10 bility for a security clearance, including interviews of 

11 the applicant or friends and family of such appli12 cant, reviews of educational or employment records, 

13 law checks, or reviews of credit history. 

14 (5) CLEARED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘cleared 

15 individual’’ means an individual, including any em16 ployee of an agency, member of the uniformed serv17 ices, contractor of an agency, or individual employee 

18 of such a contractor, who holds a valid security 

19 clearance issued by an agency. 

20 (6) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 

21 individual’’ means an individual, including any em22 ployee of an agency, member of the uniformed serv23 ices, contractor of an agency, or individual employee 

24 of such a contractor, who— 


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1 (A) is being considered by an agency for a 

2 security clearance; or 

3 (B) is a cleared individual. 

4 (7) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

5 the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. 

6 (8) FEDERAL EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘Federal 

7 employee’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘em8 ployee’’ in section 2105 of title 5, United States 

9 Code, and includes— 

10 (A) any member of the uniformed services; 

11 and 

12 (B) any officer or employee of the United 

13 States Postal Service or the Postal Regulatory 

14 Commission. 

15 (9) INVESTIGATIVE SUPPORT SERVICES.—The 

16 term ‘‘investigative support services’’ means the cler17 ical, administrative, and technical support services 

18 provided to various functions critical to the back19 ground investigative process, including initial proc20 essing and scheduling of investigative requests, per21 forming file maintenance, imaging case documents, 

22 processing mail, performing quality review of back23 ground investigations, and executing case closing 

24 processes. 


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1 (10) JURISDICTION.—The term ‘‘jurisdiction’’ 

2 means a State or unit of local government, as such 

3 terms are defined in section 901 of the Omnibus 

4 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. 

5 (11) OPM.—The term ‘‘OPM’’ means the Of6 fice of Personnel Management. 

Æ 


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