DEA may cede employee background checks to OPM

Officials at the Drug Enforcement Agency admit that they do a poor job of checking federal employees' backgrounds before issuing top-secret security clearances, according to a recent General Accounting Office report.

As a result, DEA may relinquish its authority to perform background checks to the Office of Personnel Management, which is generally responsible for personnel investigations for federal government employees.

OPM granted DEA the authority to conduct its own background checks in the early 1980s. Under the agreement, DEA was held to strict standards for managing the process of conducting personnel investigations. OPM, the Department of Justice and DEA shared responsibility for overseeing the program.

Since then, all three agencies have reported problems in DEA's personnel investigations process. OPM reviewed the program in 1992 and again in 1998, concluding that in the six-year period, none of the original problems identified had been resolved. These included poorly trained investigators, an incomplete investigation handbook, employees overdue for reinvestigations and insecure storage of investigation files.

GAO looked in to the possibility that OPM was being too tough on DEA, but found that the agency was objective and independent in its reviews.

The report "clearly shows that OPM is less concerned about who does the government's personnel security work than it is about the work being done right," said OPM Director Janice Lachance in response to the report.

The Justice Department conducted its own audit in 1997 and reached similar conclusions to OPM's. In October 1998, the assistant attorney general for administration recommended that DEA turn over its investigative authority to OPM. Early this year, DEA followed up with an internal audit, also concluding that background checks were often performed haphazardly.

"DEA identified several issues that led to the conclusion that it did not have the capability to effectively perform or oversee background investigations," GAO said in its report, "Background Investigations: Program Deficiencies May Lead DEA to Relinquish Its Authority to OPM (GGD-99-173)."

Overall security lapses included failing to verify vital statistics such as name and date of birth of employees, neglecting to check citizenship status, and not following up on foreign travel or CIA files.

Even without such deficiencies, DEA officials concluded, it might make more sense for OPM to take back authority for background checks. While OPM has computer links to many agency security files, DEA agents had to check the files by hand. According to GAO, officials at DEA decided it may be easier to let OPM handle security checks for everyone but DEA special agents. Then, resources could be redirected to increased training, policy guidance and oversight of the investigative process.

As of July, DEA had not made a final decision on relinquishing background investigation authority, but officials there are considering doing so, if they could retain authority to conduct background checks for special agents, the report said.

If they do decide to hand their background check power back to OPM, DEA will join at least four other agencies who have relinquished such authority in the past, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Commerce, and inspector general offices at NASA and the Department of Education.