50 U.S.C. § 3104 (WAR AND NATIONAL DEFENSE)
§ 3104. Reports on security clearances
(a) Quadrennial audit of position requirements
(1) The President shall every four years conduct an audit of the manner in which the executive branch determines whether a security clearance is required for a particular position in the United States Government.
(2) Not later than 30 days after the completion of an audit conducted under paragraph (1), the President shall submit to Congress the results of such audit.
(b) Report on security clearance determinations
(1) Not later than February 1 of each year, the President shall submit to Congress a report on the security clearance process. Such report shall include, for each security clearance level—
(A) the number of employees of the United States Government who—
(i) held a security clearance at such level as of October 1 of the preceding year; and
(ii) were approved for a security clearance at such level during the preceding fiscal year;
(B) the number of contractors to the United States Government who—
(i) held a security clearance at such level as of October 1 of the preceding year; and
(ii) were approved for a security clearance at such level during the preceding fiscal year; and
(C) for each element of the intelligence community—
(i) the total amount of time it took to process the security clearance determination for such level that—
(I) was among the 80 percent of security clearance determinations made during the preceding fiscal year that took the shortest amount of time to complete; and
(II) took the longest amount of time to complete;
(ii) the total amount of time it took to process the security clearance determination for such level that—
(I) was among the 90 percent of security clearance determinations made during the preceding fiscal year that took the shortest amount of time to complete; and
(II) took the longest amount of time to complete;
(iii) the number of pending security clearance investigations for such level as of October 1 of the preceding year that have remained pending for—
(I) 4 months or less;
(II) between 4 months and 8 months;
(III) between 8 months and one year; and
(IV) more than one year;
(iv) the percentage of reviews during the preceding fiscal year that resulted in a denial or revocation of a security clearance;
(v) the percentage of investigations during the preceding fiscal year that resulted in incomplete information;
(vi) the percentage of investigations during the preceding fiscal year that did not result in enough information to make a decision on potentially adverse information; and
(vii) for security clearance determinations completed or pending during the preceding fiscal year that have taken longer than one year to complete—
(I) the number of security clearance determinations for positions as employees of the United States Government that required more than one year to complete;
(II) the number of security clearance determinations for contractors that required more than one year to complete;
(III) the agencies that investigated and adjudicated such determinations; and
(IV) the cause of significant delays in such determinations.
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the President may consider—
(A) security clearances at the level of confidential and secret as one security clearance level; and
(B) security clearances at the level of top secret or higher as one security clearance level.
(c) Form
The results required under subsection (a)(2) and the reports required under subsection (b)(1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title V, § 506H, as added Pub. L. 111–259, title III, § 367(a)(1)(A), Oct. 7, 2010, 124 Stat. 2703.)
heading: Codification
text: Section was formerly classified to section 415a–10 of this title prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.
heading: Initial Audit
text: Pub. L. 111–259, title III, § 367(a)(1)(B), Oct. 7, 2010, 124 Stat. 2704, provided that: “The first audit required to be conducted under section 506H(a)(1) of the National Security Act of 1947 [50 U.S.C. 3104(a)(1)], as added by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, shall be completed not later than February 1, 2011.”