Category: Department of Defense

Security clearance lapses stemmed from Washington’s emphasis on speed over quality

By Rebecca LaFlure
Center for Public Integrity
Efforts by the government to fix a notable problem sometimes create a new mess that turns out to be as insidious and troublesome as the first, or even worse. This is what happened when Washington attempted to improve the way its security agencies vetted hundreds of thousands of workers needed suddenly after the 9/11 attacks to pursue counterterror tasks and oversee heightened secrecy requirements.