APPENDIX I
This inspection was initiated by request from the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). We reviewed Executive Orders pertaining to personnel security as well as Department and BOP policy and procedures for obtaining and adjudicating BIs and for ensuring RIs were completed on time. We interviewed officials in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the SEPS Compliance Review Group and the SEPS Personnel Security Group. We also interviewed officials at BOPs Security and Background Investigation Section (SBIS) including the Chief, two Deputy Chiefs, and several Security Specialists and Security Technicians, as well as staff at the Southeast Regional PSU, the Western Regional PSU, the North Central Regional PSU, the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) at Talladega, Alabama and the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) at Beaumont, Texas. We examined data from SBIS' automated information system and conducted an on-site review of 451 selected personnel security files at SBIS. We also reviewed files at three Regional PSUs -- the Southeast Regional PSU, the North Central Regional PSU, and the Western Regional PSU and at two institutions -- FCI Talladega and FCC Beaumont. Using information maintained by the Office of the Inspector General, we identified 36 BOP employees who had substantiated allegations of misconduct between 1995 and 1997. We examined the BI and RI procedures taken for these employees to determine if there were weaknesses in the BI or RI process. We also reviewed the personnel security files for 11 employees arrested for bribery at one institution in May 1997 to further assess BOPs personnel security process.
THE BOP PERSONNEL SECURITY PROCESS
Source: BOP Program Statement 3000.20D, BOP interviews, and the Executive Staff Paper on the PSU Pilot Program.
LATE WARDEN CERTIFICATIONS BY REGION
Source: SBIS database and security files for BI sample.
TIMELINESS OF ADJUDICATIONS
The average adjudication time for the 244 employees with adjudicated BIs in our sample was 114 days, 24 days above the 90-day standard. The longest adjudication in the sample was 644 days, 554 days above the 90-day standard. The shortest adjudication was 24 days. See the following table for the adjudication times on these 244 employees.
BI Adjudication Times
Source: SBIS database and security files for BI sample.
BI | Background Investigation |
BOP | Bureau of Prisons |
DOJ | Department of Justice |
EO | Executive Order |
FCI | Federal Correctional Institution |
FCC | Federal Correctional Complex |
HRA | Human Resource Administrator |
HRM | Human Resource Manager |
NCIC | National Crime Information Center |
NFC | National Finance Center |
NSI | National Security Information |
OIG | Office of the Inspector General |
OPM | Office of Personnel Management |
PIPS | Personnel Investigation Processing System |
PSU | Personnel Security Unit |
RI | Reinvestigation |
SEPS | Security and Emergency Planning Staff |
SETS | Security Entry and Tracking System |
SBIS | Security and Background Investigation Section |
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