Senators worry about security check backlog at OPM

Two senators are wondering how the government is going to process thousands of security clearance checks while the agency at the center of a recent data breach fixes its online submissions system.

Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) both wrote the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Wednesday, several days after the hacked agency pre-emptively pulled down its Web-based platform for submitting background investigation forms until it could fix a security flaw.

{mosads}The agency caught the vulnerability during a sweeping review of its networks in the wake of multiple hacks that have likely exposed over 18 million people’s sensitive information.

The OPM said the patch for the e-QIP system will take four to six weeks to complete.

The senators are worried the down time “will cause significant disruption to the process through which information is submitted to allow OPM to process security clearances.”

The OPM already receives 20,000 to 30,000 background checks each week, a high volume that has already created a backlog in processing at the agency, they said.

“Although the time that e-QIP is offline will allow OPM to address the current backlog, that down time will also mean additional submissions will continue to pile up, exacerbating the problem when e-QIP is brought back online,” the senators added.

The two pressed for details about how the agency will manage this challenge.

So far, they said, the OPM “has failed to provide any detail as to its strategy that will give adequate assurance to the thousands of Virginians who depend on having proper security credentials in place to do their jobs.”

The agency processed roughly 1.2 million background investigations last year.

Warner, who represents a large chunk of federal employees and government contractors, has been on top of the OPM since the damaging hacks were first revealed.

In another recent letter, the Virginia senator warned the OPM that it needed to hold credit monitoring firm CSID accountable amid reports the contractor was offering substandard service to victims of the breach.