Social Security, the Veterans Affairs Department and the Office of Personnel Management have one thing in common: a big backlog of applications for what they provide. OPM's National Background Investigative Bureau has a backlog of 700,000. Trey Hodgkins, senior vice president of the Information Technology Industry Council, says this is becoming a national security concern and Congress isn't doing enough to cut it down.
Beginning on Dec. 8, the Defense Security Service all but ceased its processing of personnel security investigation requests for government contractors, and by the time things were up and running again on Jan. 5, a new backlog of approximately 10,000 cases had built up.
GAO\'s biannual list includes 30 programs that are in trouble. House and Senate members promise to focus more of their attention on the initiatives most at risk. Members plan to use the model that worked for DoD and personnel security clearances in other problematic areas.
The government watchdog agency highlights 30 areas that are at-risk of major problems or failure. Auditors added Interior\'s handling of gas and oil resources, but several on-going challenges saw the scope of oversight shrink because of progress agencies have made.