I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 639 

To amend the National Security Act of 1947 to revise reporting requirements 

related to security clearances. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 22, 2009 

Ms. ESHOO (for herself and Mr. ISSA) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in 

addition to the Select Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select), 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 amend the National Security Act of 1947 to revise 

reporting requirements related to security clearances. 

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 

5 Oversight and Accountability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPORTS RELATING TO SECURITY CLEARANCES. 

7 (a) REPORTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the National Se2 curity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 413 et seq.) is 

3 amended by adding at the end the following new sec4 tion: 

5 ‘‘REPORTS ON SECURITY CLEARANCES

6 ‘‘SEC. 508. (a) QUADRENNIAL AUDIT OF POSITION

7 REQUIREMENTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall every 

9 four years conduct an audit of how the executive 

10 branch determines whether a security clearance is 

11 required for a particular position in the Federal 

12 Government. 

13 ‘‘(2) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 30 days 

14 after the completion of an audit conducted under 

15 paragraph (1), the President shall submit to Con16 gress the results of such audit. 

17 ‘‘(b) REPORT ON SECURITY CLEARANCE DETER18 MINATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than February 1 

20 of each year, the President (or a designee of the 

21 President) shall submit to Congress a report on the 

22 security clearance process. Such report shall include, 

23 for each security clearance level— 

24 ‘‘(A) the number of government employees 

25 who— 


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1 ‘‘(i) held a security clearance at such 

2 level as of October 1 of the preceding year; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(ii) were approved for a security 

5 clearance at such level during the pre6 ceding fiscal year; 

7 ‘‘(B) the number of contractors who— 

8 ‘‘(i) held a security clearance at such 

9 level as of October 1 of the preceding year; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(ii) were approved for a security 

12 clearance at such level during the pre13 ceding fiscal year; and 

14 ‘‘(C) for each element of the intelligence 

15 community— 

16 ‘‘(i) the amount of time it took to 

17 process the fastest 80 percent of security 

18 clearance determinations for such level; 

19 ‘‘(ii) the amount of time it took to 

20 process the fastest 90 percent of security 

21 clearance determinations for such level; 

22 ‘‘(iii) the number of open security 

23 clearance investigations for such level that 

24 have remained open for— 

25 ‘‘(I) 4 months or less; 


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1 ‘‘(II) between 4 months and 8 

2 months; 

3 ‘‘(III) between 8 months and 12 

4 months; and 

5 ‘‘(IV) more than a year; 

6 ‘‘(iv) the percentage of reviews that 

7 result in a denial or revocation of a secu8 rity clearance; 

9 ‘‘(v) the percentage of investigations 

10 that resulted in incomplete information; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(vi) the percentage of investigations 

13 that did not result in enough information 

14 to make a decision on potentially adverse 

15 information. 

16 ‘‘(2) SECURITY CLEARANCE LEVELS.—For pur17 poses of paragraph (1), the Director of National In18 telligence may consider— 

19 ‘‘(A) security clearances at the level of con20 fidential and secret as one security clearance 

21 level; and 

22 ‘‘(B) security clearances at the level of top 

23 secret or higher as one security clearance level. 

24 ‘‘(c) DIRECTOR OF OMB.—Not later than February 

25 1 of each year, the Director of the Office of Management 


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1 and Budget shall submit to Congress a report on security 

2 clearance determinations completed or ongoing during the 

3 preceding fiscal year that have taken longer than 1 year 

4 to complete. Such report shall include— 

5 ‘‘(1) the number of security clearance deter6 minations for positions as employees of the Federal 

7 Government that required more than 1 year to com8 plete; 

9 ‘‘(2) the number of security clearance deter10 minations for contractors that required more than 1 

11 year to complete; 

12 ‘‘(3) the agencies that investigated and adju13 dicated such determinations; and 

14 ‘‘(4) the cause of significant delays in such de15 terminations.’’. 

16 (2) REPORT ON METRICS FOR ADJUDICATION

17 QUALITY.—Not later than 180 days after the date of 

18 enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to 

19 Congress a report on security clearance investiga20 tions and adjudications. Such report shall include— 

21 (A) Federal Government-wide adjudication 

22 guidelines and metrics for adjudication quality; 

23 (B) a plan to improve the professional de24 velopment of security clearance adjudicators; 


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1 (C) metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of 

2 interagency clearance reciprocity; and 

3 (D) Federal Government-wide investigation 

4 standards and metrics for investigation quality. 

5 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con6 tents in the first section of the National Security 

7 Act of 1947 is amended by inserting after the item 

8 relating to section 507 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 508. Reports on security clearances.’’. 

9 (b) INITIAL AUDIT.—The first audit required to be 

10 conducted under section 508(a)(1) of the National Secu11 rity Act of 1947 (as added by subsection (a)) shall be com12 pleted not later than February 1, 2010. 

Æ 


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