Government Background Checks for Security Clearance Now in Question

In 2011, the government contractor USIS performed a background check on Edward Snowden, the whistleblower on the NSA scandal.  It was presumably this background check that gave Snowden high-level clearance. According to its website, “USIS is the leader in providing background investigations to the federal government. With our highly experienced team of investigators, we mitigate risk with accurate in-depth investigations in a range of areas.”

Bloomberg news reports that USIS has been under investigation since 2011 for various fraud related issues. But at a senate hearing following the leak, when Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.) asked whether there were any concerns about the USIS’s background check on Snowden, Patrick Mcfarland, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general, replied, “yes, we do believe that there may be some problems.”

This kind of breach of duty by both he Office of Personnell and USIS is especially disconcerting with recent reports that the NSA has been authorized to keep copies of intercepted communications from or about US citizens if the material contains significant intelligence or evidence of crimes.  So despite the Obama’s reassurance that this intelligence will not be used against US citizens, it seems likely that it can and will be used against US citizens if it hasn’t already been.

To sum it up, we’re left with a government that is storing and collecting mass quantities of information that can potentially be used against US citizens, and is accessible by approximately 500,000 contractors who might not have been given the most thorough background checks.  With the amount of classified material that the government currently holds, this should concern even those who support the NSA’s surveillance programs.

Alison Frimmel, Research Fellow
Center for Policy and Research

ACLU Sues Obama Administration over NSA Surveillance

Last week, The Guardian reported that under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the NSA has been acquiring the metadata for every phone call (wireless and landline) made or received by customers of Verizon Business Network on an ongoing basis. The government confirmed that an order was issued by Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) requiring Verizon business Network to turn over metadata about the calls made by each of its subscribers over the 3 month period ending on July 19, 2013.

The ACLU is a non-profit group that has historically fought to protect individual freedoms both implicit and explicit in our constitution—freedom of speech, equality, due process, privacy etc. So it’s no surprise that the ACLU, a current customer of the Verizon Business Network, and New York ACLU, a former customer, filed suit against the Obama Administration claiming that the government’s surveillance under Section 215 is violative of the First and Fourth Amendments because it allows the government sensitive and privileged information about both their work and clients.

It is the ACLU’s contention that this government surveillance of phone calls can be used to identify those who contact plaintiffs for legal assistance or to report human rights or civil liberties violations. In the specific context for which the Patriot Act was enacted this is particularly problematic as the ACLU has in the past represented alleged terrorists (see Hamdi v. Rumsfeld). So it’s pretty clear that the government’s surveillance of phone calls of Verizon business Network customers has the potential to frustrate the ACLU’s goals of promoting and protecting individual liberties of its clients.

Alison Frimmel, Research Fellow
Center for Policy and Research