Contractor’s U.S. Ties Tough to Break After Vetting Lapse

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-30/contractor-s-u-s-ties-tough-to-break-after-vetting-lapse.html

Within the next year, the federal government will have a chance to begin dropping the contractor whose background checks helped leaker Edward Snowden and the Washington Navy Yard shooter get security clearances.

Don’t be sure of it.

As Congress demands answers and expresses outrage, dumping a firm like USIS, a unit of Falls Church, Virginia-based Altegrity Inc. that has more than a half-billion dollars in federal contracts running out in a year, could create as many problems as it solves.

It might shift a backlog of cases to two other companies, which could lead to more lapses in the vetting system. And, any company that the government hired to replace it could just hire the same people. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will examine the clearance process at a hearing planned for tomorrow.

“Replacing USIS would be something of a nightmare for the government,” said Charles Tiefer, a former member of the U.S. Commission on Wartime Contracting.