Machine Learning Could Help Chip Away at the Security Clearance Backlog

fotogestoeber/Shutterstock.com

Augmenting human investigators is a better option than doing reinvestigations less frequently.

At the end of July, the Pentagon announced a change to the time period for conducting background investigations to help reduce the huge backlog of people waiting for their government clearance. It plans to simply do reinvestigations less often, officially stretching the process from five to six years, when in reality, it can already take much longer than that. While this may free up some resources to conduct initial investigations, it is a partial solution at best.

The government is exploring other options to fix the clearance process. For example,  the White House wants to reorganize the agencies that perform clearance investigations. The Senate Intelligence Committee approved the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal years 2018 and 2019, which includes measures that would promote information sharing between federal agencies and would establish a governmentwide policy for granting interim clearances. Pilot programs are attempting to move the process away from today’s slow and labor-intensive process in favor of continuous evaluation that incorporates data-mining software that can catch clearance issues in real time.

These are steps in the right direction, but the problem is a crisis right now. The backlog jumped to 740,000 people and the investigations are taking even longer.

The good news is that the commercial sector already uses technological solutions that could dramatically reduce the time needed to conduct an investigation and at the same time, make the screening process far more effective than it is today.

The information collected during background investigations are essentially large data sets collected from the person seeking the clearance. This data, much of it collected on yellow legal pads during the investigator interviews, is then manually compiled and reviewed. Any abnormalities such as an arrest, unexplained wealth, or unusual contact with foreign nationals must be identified and flagged by the investigators, prompting more review and investigation.

Even basic machine-learning technology could save countless hours. Using historical data on the millions of clearance reviews that have been conducted and the counterintelligence case profiles of people who misused classified information, machine-learning models could be trained to identify the types of discrepancies that cause clearance rejections and quickly screen new requests. This comprehensive review of data sets is something that no investigator could hope to achieve.

Anyone who has clicked on something in the “Recommended for you” section of Amazon or Netflix has used machine-learning technology. The recommendations are based on computers reviewing datasets of selections from millions of people and comparing them to your choices. Can you imagine how long and expensive it would be for Netflix to send an investigator to your house to interview you about your movie preferences, then talk to all of your friends to confirm your answers, record them by hand on a legal pad, then type them up, review them with a panel at Netflix headquarters, then generate a recommendation and send it to you?

Obviously, the stakes are much higher when we are dealing with security clearances. False positives could lead to the rejection of qualified candidates for sensitive jobs, and false negatives could miss the red flags that should prevent a candidate from getting a clearance. However, these are arguments for augmenting the work of investigators with machine-learning technology instead of relying on humans alone.

It is important for key decision-makers at the Pentagon to understand that machine learning is a tool that investigators and reviewers should use in making clearance determinations by flagging risk factors to be further evaluated before a final determination is made. Using machine-learning tools does not mean simply trusting AI robots to make critical national security rulings, but instead help more efficiently flag risks for human evaluation.  

The outdated clearance process is horribly inefficient, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and preventing qualified candidates from doing critical national security work that our nation relies on. Most importantly, the manual process of conducting investigations with no follow-up for years is far less effective at identifying potential issues than an automated process that could identify these potential issues in a matter of minutes and flag them for further investigation.

The security clearance backlog is a crisis, and the time for reform is right now. We can’t afford to wait years for reorganizations and pilot programs to begin to bear fruit.

Erin Hawley is the vice president and general manager of public sector at DataRobot.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.