[Congressional Record: May 10, 2006 (House)] [Page H2466-H2472] NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007 The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 806 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 5122. [...] Amendment No. 7 Offered by Mr. Simmons Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment. The Acting CHAIRMAN (Mr. Duncan). The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Amendment No. 7 printed in House Report 109-459 offered by Mr. Simmons: At the end of title X (page 393, after line 23), insert the following new section: SEC. 10__. AUTHORIZATION TO EXPIRE CLEARANCES REVOKED. (a) Prohibition on Expired Clearances.--No security clearance granted by the Department of Defense that has been requested to be renewed, based on a requirement for periodic reinvestigation, shall be permitted to expire until the Secretary of Defense certifies to the congressional defense committees and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives that-- (1) the Defense Security Service has continued to accept industry requests for new personnel security clearances and periodic reinvestigations; and (2) the Defense Security Service has fully funded its requirement for fiscal year 2007 security clearances and taken steps to eliminate its backlog of requests for security clearance and periodic investigations by September 20, 2008. (b) Exception to Prohibition.--The prohibition in subsection (a) shall not apply if the Secretary of Defense determines that sufficient cause exists to revoke a security clearance, that has been requested to be renewed, based on other requirements of law or Department of Defense policy or regulations. (c) Duration of Prohibition.--The prohibition on expired clearances authorized by this section expires on September 30, 2008. (d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section alters the process in effect as of the date of the enactment of this Act for security clearances and periodic investigations. (e) Definition.--In this section, the term ``backlog'' means the body of industry requests for new personnel security clearances and periodic reinvestigations that have not yet been completed or that have not yet been opened for investigation. (f) Reports.--The Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report detailing the actions required by subsection (a)(2) no later than September 30, 2007. A final report shall be submitted no later than September 30, 2008. The Acting CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 806, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Connecticut. Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. First, I would like to commend Chairman Hunter and Mr. Bartlett, as well as Mr. Skelton and Mr. Taylor for their leadership and vision on this bill. This bill is particularly historic with respect to the shipbuilding programs that it supports. But I am rising today, Mr. Chairman, to offer a bipartisan amendment that would protect our industrial base workers from losing their jobs because of the failure of our Federal bureaucracy to process security clearances and periodic updates. Last month, without [[Page H2469]] warning or notice to Congress, the Defense Security Service stopped processing security clearance background checks and periodic updates for defense contractor workers. What makes this most frustrating is the fact that the Department of Defense said it had fixed the security clearance problems last year when it transferred responsibility for these investigations to the Office of Personnel Management. Many of us who have defense workers in our district questioned DSS on that point, but they were emphatic that OPM could get the job done. Well, Mr. Chairman, they were wrong. We cannot allow their failure to result in cleared defense workers losing their jobs. Very simply, this amendment would prevent the Department of Defense from firing workers whose security clearance may have expired through no fault of their own. It does not change the security clearance process or prevent the Department from revoking security clearances for reasons other than the backlog, but it does protect our workers who currently have clearances that simply need to be updated. Those already at work eventually need renewals to stay on the job, and there are thousands of shipyard workers in my district and elsewhere across the country who need clearances updated to design and build the best ships in the world. But we must give these defense workers peace of mind that they won't be out on the street because of a botched job in the bowels of the Pentagon. Our amendment has support from both sides of the aisle as well as from numerous national security organizations, and I include for the Record a list of these associations. I urge my colleagues to support the Simmons-Davis-Davis amendment to keep American defense workers at work. Security Clearance Coalition Supports Simmons/Davis Amendment to H.R. 5122 The associations listed below have joined in coalition to work to address the significant problems their members encounter negotiating the security granting process. All of the problems that this process has experienced for the last several years were severely compounded when the Defense Security Service placed a moratorium on the acceptance of new security clearance applications and applications for periodic reinvestigations at the end of April. The coalition supports the Simmons/Davis amendment as a positive first step toward reversing the impact of this decision and to mitigating its impact. While the ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel who are able to get a clearance has been greatly impacted, this proposal will at least assure those that currently employed and holding a clearance that their job will not be impacted because of their inability to submit an application for reinvestigation. The actions by DSS are symptomatic of the chronic problems found in the Federal government's security granting process. We hope that Congress will act to mitigate the impact of this action by adopting the Simmons/Davis amendment. It is also our hope that Congress will recognize the need to overhaul the entire clearance granting process and work with this coalition and others to bring about a more enlightened and 21st Century approach to providing trusted personnel to meet our National Security needs. Please vote yes in support of the Simmons/Davis Amendment. Aerospace Industries Association Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Contract Services Association Information Technology Association of America Intelligence and National Security Alliance National Defense Industrial Association Professional Services Council Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition even though I support the amendment. The Acting CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from North Carolina? There was no objection. Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, it is critical that our Department of Defense provides clearances to the right people to get access to the right information so they can do their jobs in support of our troops. Access to classified information should be need driven rather than budget driven. For this reason, I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. I want to thank the gentleman for bringing this amendment forward. It is a fair amendment, and I ask and urge its adoption. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis). Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the Simmons-Davis-Davis amendment in the defense authorization bill. This amendment will safeguard national security and ensure fiscal responsibility by preventing the security clearances of defense contractors from expiring until the Department of Defense resumes processing their requests for security clearance investigations and fully funds its personnel security clearance program for fiscal year 2007. I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment. On Friday, April 28, I discovered DOD's security clearance processing arm, the Defense Security Service, was imposing a moratorium on all requests for private sector security clearance investigations. DSS reported that it experienced a massive spike in the number of clearance requests and that it didn't have the resources to handle this spike. DSS, therefore, decided to just turn off the spigot. This is, frankly, unacceptable. It is an unacceptable solution to what should have been a very foreseeable problem. I will be chairing a Government Reform Committee hearing on May 17 to examine this issue in more detail. In the meantime we cannot put defense contractors that need to review employees' clearances in the position of having to choose between firing their employees or granting uncleared personnel access to classified materials and facilities. The government spends billions of dollars each year on defense contracts requiring workers with security clearances to do the work. If contractors are unable to find enough cleared personnel who have access to classified information, the cost of these contracts increases dramatically. Simply supply and demand, not enough people with the clearance, too much work to do, and the taxpayers are then forced to pick up the tab and our national security suffers. Therefore, I rise in strong support of the Simmons-Davis-Davis amendment to prevent the Department of Defense from revoking expiring security clearances until DOD is able to get a handle on the current crisis and resume processing requests for security clearance investigations in a timely and efficient manner. This amendment does not fix the problem, but it keeps it from getting worse. It is an important issue for national security and fiscal responsibility. I urge my colleagues to support this important amendment. Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time, and thank the chairman and my colleagues from across the aisle for bringing fairness and peace of mind to our defense workers. Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of this amendment that I am offering with my colleagues from Connecticut and Virginia. As we continue to fight the Global War on Terror, the Department of Defense must adapt to meet the challenges posed by this new kind of war. I believe that it is our responsibility in Congress to exercise proper oversight and direction of our military, and the recent developments regarding the processing of security clearances deserve the attention of this body. In our post 9/11 world, the need for precise and timely security clearance processing has never been more important. The demand for clearances of all types and levels continues to increase, yet our budgets and our processes are not up to date. I represent thousands of workers in my district who rely on their security clearance to perform their jobs, from the shipbuilders in Newport News to the thousands of uniformed service members and contractors that are working to support our national defense. In fact, I've heard from a lot of them in the last few weeks. Our amendment will temporarily prohibit the Department of Defense's authority to expire clearances that have requested renewal until September 30, 2008, unless certain criteria are met. I firmly believe that we should not be penalizing our military and contracting community because the Department cannot adequately estimate or budget its future security clearance requirements. Additionally, I'm pleased that a separate amendment offered by Congressman Simmons [[Page H2470]] and myself was included in the underlying legislation that is before the House today. The provision requires the Department to submit a series of reports on their progress in solving these problems, and I believe this is an important step in our congressional oversight of this extremely vital program for our national defense. I want to thank Chairman Hunter for working with me on this issue. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of our amendment. Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIRMAN. All time for debate has expired. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons). The amendment was agreed to. [...]