Computer Shutdown Hits Defense Security Service
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 8, 2000; Page A10
A $100 million computer system installed two years ago by the
Defense Security Service (DSS) has been shut down for more than a
week, the latest example of disarray at the agency that conducts
background checks for Defense Department security clearances.
Persistent computer problems at the Alexandria-based DSS have
contributed to a backlog of almost a million investigations into
military and civilian employees of the Pentagon, the armed forces
and private defense contractors.
The computer system, hastily installed with little testing in
1998, crashed on June 29 because of what officials called a data
overload. It is not expected to go back into operation until
Monday, according to retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles J.
Cunningham Jr., who took over the DSS a year ago with a mandate
to upgrade the computer system, shape up the investigative
process and cut the backlog.
Although the computer shutdown "was orderly," Cunningham said,
"we lost some files." Restarting the system has been delayed
because "it takes a lot of time to load data back into the
computer," he added.
The DSS's comptroller, Robert Donnelly, said the agency plans to
spend $47.2 million over the next five years to "stabilize" its
computers. In addition, it has budgeted $235 million to hire
four civilian investigating firms for as much as five years to
cut down the number of pending security checks.
Some of the approximately 1 million employees awaiting background
checks are seeking new security clearances. But most of the
backlog consists of employees who are due for periodic
re-investigation of existing clearances. By law,
re-investigations are required every five years for a "top
secret" clearance, every 10 years for a "secret" clearance and
every 15 years for access to "confidential" material.
The DSS conducts background checks but does not actually issue
security clearances. Rather, it forwards the results of its
investigations to the Office of the Secretary of Defense or the
various armed services, which decide whether to grant clearances.
Often, the adjudicators ask for additional information.
Last week's computer breakdown, Cunningham said, was caused by
increased data coming into the system as the number of completed
investigations nearly doubled from earlier this year, to about
1,800 cases a day by mid-June. His goal, he said, had been to
reach 2,500 case closures a day by mid-August, a rate that would
represent more cases being closed than opened for the first time
in years.
The breakdown was not entirely unexpected. Gary L. Denman,
president and CEO of GRC International Inc., a DSS computer
contractor, warned earlier this year that even with various
improvements the system "still chokes" and that he was not sure
"whether the software can handle it."
One result of the computer problems and backlog in investigations
is that a growing number of Defense Department personnel with
access to top-secret information have not been subjected to
security checks in more than five years.
The need for periodic re-investigations was highlighted last year
when a routine check on Navy Petty Officer Daniel King, who
worked at the code-breaking National Security Agency, resulted in
an espionage charge. King was arrested in October and charged
with mailing the Russian Embassy a computer disk with secret data
about U.S. submarine operations.
The Pentagon's security problems, however, have drawn far less
congressional interest than the travails of the Department of
Energy, which is reeling from allegations of security lapses at
Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
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