State and DOD Have Developed Procedures to Conduct Background Screenings of U.S. Citizens; Only State Has Developed Departmentwide Procedures to Screen Foreign and Local National Personnel

		State Has Developed a Background Screening Process for Private Security Contractor Personnel, Including Foreign and Local National Personnel

State has developed a process for conducting background screenings of its  private security contractor personnel, U.S. citizens, and foreign and local  nationals alike, which, according to State officials, meets the requirements  of HSPD-12. The lack of a focal point to resolve disagreements among the offices  responsible for developing and implementing DOD’s background  screening policies and procedures has hindered timely execution of the  HSPD-12 requirements. For example, officials from USD-I have interpreted  HSPD-12 as requiring a government screening and adjudication process for  foreign nationals that would be equivalent to the National Agency Check  with Written Inquiries investigation used for U.S. citizens. Officials within  AT&L maintain that this approach is unrealistic and would severely limit  the numbers of foreign national contractor personnel the department  could use to support U.S. forces in contingency operations. According to  AT&L officials a National Agency Check with Written Inquiries equivalent  screening for foreign nationals would not be feasible, given the difficulty  of screening foreign nationals and the inconsistent quality of criminal and  employment records from one country to another. While  DOD has acknowledged the inherent force protection risk it assumes  when using contractor personnel, without the development and  implementation of departmentwide background screening procedures that  apply to all private security contractor personnel, including foreign  nationals, DOD does not have full assurance that all of its private security  contractor personnel have been properly screened. More specifically the focal point should    direct the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, in  consultation with the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and  Readiness and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,  Technology, and Logistics, to develop departmentwide procedures for  conducting and adjudicating background screenings of foreign national  contractor personnel and establish a time frame for implementation;    develop an effective means to communicate to MNF-I the new  procedures so that MNF-I officials can adjust their existing background  screening policies and procedures, if necessary, to comport with the  procedures; and    develop a training program to ensure that military commanders and  contracting officials, including contracting officers and contracting  officers’ representatives, understand the department’s policies and  procedures for background screening as well as their roles and  responsibilities. To ensure that DOD fully meets the requirements of Section 862 of the  2008 National Defense Authorization Act we recommend that the  Secretary of Defense direct the Under Secretary of Defense for  Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics to:    establish minimum processes and requirements for the selection,  accountability, training, equipping, and conduct of personnel  performing private security functions under a covered contract during  a combat operation;    direct the geographic combatant commanders, through the Chairman  of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to develop and publish the regulations,  orders, directives, instructions, and procedures for private security  contractors operating during a contingency operation within their area  of responsibility;    provide a report to Congress with the timelines for completing the  minimum processes discussed in the recommendation above; and  revise the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require the insertion into  each covered contract a clause addressing the selection, training,  equipping, and conduct of personnel performing private security  functions under such, contract. In addition, DOD stated that it does not conduct its own background  investigations on foreign nationals and lacks the infrastructure to do so. However, as we noted,  the process used in Iraq has several shortcomings. Our assessment of the extent to which DOD’s draft policy  meets the requirements of Section 862 of the National Defense  Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 is based on our review of the draft  regulation as it was written on May 2009. To determine the extent to which DOD and State have implemented  processes to ensure that private security contractor personnel in Iraq are  trained, we reviewed DOD and State contracts for security services in Iraq  and interviewed DOD and State officials responsible for ensuring that  these requirements have been met. To examine the measures the two departments have taken to account for  weapons used by private security contractors in Iraq, we obtained and  reviewed DOD and State arming guidance and policies.
Why GAO Did This Study

Currently in Iraq, there are thousands of private security contractor (PSC) personnel supporting DOD and State, many of whom are foreign nationals. Congressional concerns about the selection, training, equipping, and conduct of personnel performing private security functions in Iraq are reflected in a provision in the fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that directs DOD to develop guidance on PSCs. This report examines the extent (1) that DOD and State have developed and implemented policies and procedures to ensure that the backgrounds of PSC employees have been screened and (2) that DOD has developed guidance to implement the provisions of the NDAA and (3) that DOD and State have addressed measures on other issues related to PSC employees in Iraq. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed DOD and State guidance, policies, and contract oversight documentation and interviewed agency and private security industry officials.

What GAO Found

State and DOD have developed policies and procedures to conduct background screenings of PSC personnel working in Iraq who are U.S. citizens, but only State has done so for foreign nationals. Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) directs U.S. government agencies to establish minimum background screening requirements in order to issue access credentials. But DOD has not developed departmentwide procedures for conducting background screenings of its foreign national PSC personnel. Disagreements among the various DOD offices responsible for developing and implementing these policies and procedures hindered timely execution of the HSPD-12 requirements, and the completion of this development and implementation has been hampered by the lack of a focal point to resolve these disagreements. For example, officials at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence interpret HSPD-12 as requiring a government screening process for foreign national contractor personnel that is equivalent to the National Agency Check with Written Inquiries (NACI) currently used for U.S. citizen contractor personnel. But officials at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics maintain that a NACI-equivalent screening for foreign nationals would not be feasible, given the inherent difficulty of screening foreign nationals and the inconsistent quality of criminal and employment records from one country to another, and further, such an approach would will severely limit the numbers of foreign national contractor personnel DOD could use. The offices also differ as to who should approve background screenings, known as adjudication. The Commander of Multi-National Forces-Iraq has established a screening process for PSCs, but GAO has identified several shortcomings that limit the effectiveness of this process. For example, the process directs contractors to obtain background screening for entities that will not provide data to contractors. While DOD has acknowledged the inherent force protection risk it assumes when using contractor employees, without the timely development of standardized policies and procedures, DOD lacks full assurance that all its PSCs are properly screened. While DOD is developing guidance to meet the requirements of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, the draft guidance does not meet all of the requirements of that act. For example, the draft guidance does not address the requirement for establishing minimum standards for background screening of PSCs. Instead it directs the combatant commanders to establish standards for their respective areas of responsibility, though it does not establish time frames within which they should do so. Without addressing these concerns, DOD's draft guidance only partially meets the requirements of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. DOD and State have taken actions on other issues related to PSCs in Iraq. For example, they have implemented similar processes to ensure that PSC personnel are trained, and to account for PSC weapons. Both agencies have also developed policies related to alcohol use by PSCs