Pentagon Has Major Backlog Of Security Checks

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Now hwy would the government be having a problem with new computer bugs and new software. I'm not saying its y2k related but imagine the problem they are having related to y2k.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/tc/story.html?s=v/nm/19990603/tc/pentagon_security_1.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Defense Department, hampered by personnel cuts and problems with a new computer system, said Thursday it had fallen far behind in required annual security checks of thousands of military and defense workers.

``We have had major problems for years, but it has gotten worse recently with tightened security, personnel cuts, new computer bugs and software problems,'' Glenn Flood, a Pentagon spokesman, told Reuters.

``We are trying to go from a paper-driven system to an electronic one with a new computer and we're slowly working it out. But it will not be fixed tomorrow or even next year,'' Flood added.

Officials responded to questions after USA Today Thursday reported that the backlog of Pentagon security investigations was enormous at a time when charges of Chinese theft of U.S. nuclear secrets was a reminder of what could go wrong when spies aren't caught.

``There are significant problems. We have put in a new computer program and the computer has not proven that it can automatically do the background checks it was designed to do,'' said Army Col. Dick Bridges, another Pentagon spokesman.

Officials said that Charles Cunningham, a retired Air Force General and deputy assistant defense secretary for intelligence, was being named to head the Defense Security Service and address its growing problems.

Each year, the security service handles more than 100,000 in-depth investigations of military and civilian Defense Department employees and contract personnel who require secret and top-secret clearances and nearly 500,000 less-stringent checks on personnel whose jobs are not highly sensitive.

But USA Today reported that the work force at the agency has fallen from more than 4,000 personnel a decade ago to 2,466 today due in large part to post-Cold War budget cuts.

``There is a constant workload that will never go down,'' said Bridges.

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), June 04, 1999

Answers

Gee, I wonder WHEN that "new computer" was put in? Before or after they cleared Monica?

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 04, 1999.

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