“The hearing will come to order. Welcome to today’s Readiness Subcommittee hearing on security clearances. I want to thank our witnesses for making the time to appear before us today.  I look forward to your testimony. 

  “The title for today’s hearing is ‘Readiness at Risk: the Department of Defense Security Clearance Process.’  Those words simply summarize why we are here today.  It does not take a rocket scientist to know that every delay in properly processing clearances can hurt our national security. 

  “The problems in the DOD security clearance process have been on our radar screen for years.  And the sudden stoppage of processing clearances for industry in 2006 certainly got our attention .That led to a reprogramming request for $90 million which Congress quickly approved. We approved another reprogramming last summer to avert another crisis. And we have required the Secretary of Defense to submit a report with the President’s budget submission on the status of industry security clearances.

  “But these actions only address the tip of the iceberg.

  “Currently, DOD is responsible for about 2 million active personnel security clearances.  Approximately 34 percent is held by industry personnel working on DOD contracts.

  “In 2005, DOD transferred responsibility for conducting the initial investigations to OPM.  This was intended to speed the process.  DOD accounts for about 80% of the investigations now handled by OPM.

  “However, timeliness of the DOD clearance process continues to be an issue.  That is why it landed on the GAO high-risk list in 2005.  And it remains there today.

  “We are very concerned with the budgetary implications of DOD’s apparent inability to measure the current backlog and accurately predict future requests.   We don’t want anymore surprise stoppages.

  “We don’t believe DOD can simply rely on reprogramming requests to keep the program limping along through the year.  Why can’t DOD get it right when it comes to predicting its budget needs for processing clearances?

  “What technology improvements do we need?  What are the costs?  Is DOD budgeting for those costs now?

  “If there are technology solutions, let’s not push those further down the road.  We should not have to continue to plod along with outdated systems. 

  “I’m interested to hear more about what OPM is doing to reduce delays.

  “And I’m very interested in the ‘tiger team’ that was set up to review and make recommendations for improving the process.  Perhaps this will lead to a better system across the board. 

  “And just last week, the president signed a memo asking for a plan to speed up the clearance process.  He wants that plan by the end of April.  I hope our DOD and OPM witnesses can tell us more about what they will do to get that plan done.

  “Continued delays increase risks to national security and add to the cost of classified work for the government.   To me, this is unacceptable.

  “Let’s work together to find solutions.

  “Now I would like to turn to my good friend from Virginia, Mr. Forbes, the subcommittee ranking member, for any opening remarks he might like to make.”