March 17, 2003
Government Clearance Process Moving Into
21st Century
E-Clearance Initiative
to Streamline Clearance Process, Help Public and Private Sector
Washington, DC
– Today, U.S. Office of Personnel Director
Kay Coles James discussed the progress OPM has made moving
the federal government’s national security background
clearance process into the 21st Century, unveiling the new
SF-86C Certification form for the SF-86, the Questionnaire
for National Security Positions, and the launch of the Clearance
Verification System.
“It would be difficult to overstate
the importance of E-Clearance,” said James. “With
threats to our homeland and to our national interests overseas,
providing accurate, thorough, and timely clearances to the
workforce is crucial. The loyalty and the integrity of the
men and women of America’s civil service is well known,
and we will use new technology to maintain their proud legacy
of patriotism while rapidly adding to our ranks.”
The SF-86C will allow individuals to quickly
and easily update their most recent SF-86, which is 13 pages
in length. The SF-86C, at just two pages, is dramatically
shorter and will save employees from having to fill out the
longer SF-86 form in most instances. The SF-86C will be available
for download on-line, and in the coming months will be completely
automated, allowing individuals to fill it out on-line, eliminating
the need for paper forms in most instances.
“The E-Clearance initiative will
eliminate unnecessary paperwork, reduce the burden on people
we want to bring into the federal government, cut tie involved
in processing clearances while preserving the integrity of
our investigations, and free-up personnel security resources
to focus where it counts,” James declared.
“We’re also building the Clearance
Verification System that puts all the civilian clearance information
in a single database, connected to the DOD system,”
James added. “For the first time, a single search will
give you the complete picture.”
The Clearance Verification System will
enable, for the first time, one search to locate investigative
and clearance information for any agency.
E-Clearance is part of the E-Government
initiative contained in President George W. Bush’s Management
Agenda. The President’s Management Agenda contains 24
E-Government initiatives, five of which are managed by OPM.
The other four programs OPM manages are E-Training, E-Payroll,
Recruitment One-Stop, and Enterprise Human Resource Integration.
For more information please contact Chad
Cowan at 202-606-2402 or cdcowan@opm.gov.
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