In a letter to acting OPM Director Beth Cobert, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) say they're concerned the agency doesn't have firm plans for transitioning the federal security clearance process from the old organization to the new National Background Investigations Bureau.
The investigations process is to blame for higher security clearance processing times at the beginning of 2016 and end of 2015. Challenges with culture, resources and legal questions are also pushing agencies farther and farther off schedule in standing up their own insider threat programs.
Congress is skeptic of the Office of Personnel Management's new IT infrastructure project, otherwise known as "Shell," due to previous warnings from the agency's inspector general. OPM's former IG referred to the system as "at risk of project failure." OPM is asking for $37 million to begin planning and migrating old systems to the new infrastructure in fiscal 2017.