Statement of
JASON S. MILLER
DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR MANAGEMENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Before the
SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE regarding
PERSONNEL VETTING REFORM
March 29, 2023

Chairman Warner, Vice Chairman Rubio, and members of the Committee, thank you for your continued
bipartisan support for transforming our personnel vetting system, including holding today’s hearing with
the Security, Suitability, and Credentialing Performance Accountability Council (PAC). Over the course
of our work together, my colleagues and I have developed a strong working dynamic among us, and I
have deep respect for their commitment, dedication, and professionalism. Today’s topic is an important
one, and I look forward to updating you and the American public on the ongoing efforts to overhaul a
process that has remained largely unchanged since the second World War.
I am here today as the Chair of the PAC. The PAC is the interagency body accountable for improving
personnel vetting, which covers how the Government determines the trustworthiness of its workforce.
Personnel vetting of Federal employees and Federal contractors is vital for ensuring Government
agencies can better retain and quickly acquire the expertise needed to accomplish their missions. This is
especially critical for organizations focusing on defense, intelligence, homeland security, and critical
infrastructure. Improving vetting performance has been a priority for successive Administrations based
on its substantial impact on enabling a well-performing government. The reform effort enjoys broad
support from industry, which will specifically benefit from shorter onboarding times and more
consistent processes.
The PAC is led by four Principal members, who are all here today. Their functional roles within the
personnel vetting mission space are highlighted below, but each Principal will expand on these
responsibilities in their statements. Collectively, our goal is to help guide you through why personnel
vetting reform is important, how it is being achieved, progress to date, and our path forward.
• Jason Miller – Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
o Chairs the PAC and sets overall direction for reform
o Coordinates implementation and ensures accountability
• Dr. Stacey Dixon – Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence
o Sets personnel vetting policy for determining access to national security (classified)
information
• Ronald Moultrie – Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security
o Provides most background investigations for agencies and processes bulk of adjudications
o Develops and operates enterprise personnel vetting information technology (IT)
• Kiran Ahuja – Director, Office of Personnel Management
o Sets personnel vetting policy for suitability, fitness, and credentialing determinations

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Background
Personnel vetting is the process through which the Federal Government determines whether individuals
are sufficiently trustworthy to fill a certain role within its workforce. This process is applicable to all
civilian employees, military personnel, and contractors at various levels depending on the work they will
perform. Currently, nearly 7 million individuals receive some level of personnel vetting from the
Executive Branch.
There are three general domains within personnel vetting. Simplified descriptions for each domain are
provided below:
• National Security: Determines whether an individual is trusted to serve in a national security
sensitive position, which can include (but does not require) holding a security clearance.
• Suitability/Fitness: Determines whether an individual can be trusted to perform the work they
were hired to do for—or on behalf of—the Government.
• Credentialing: Determines whether an individual is trusted to be granted the ability to access
Government facilities or IT systems.
All three domains function similarly. An agency first
Simplified Relationship between
assesses the risk and sensitivity level of the position. Once
Personnel Vetting Domain Criteria
they have identified a candidate, the Government collects
information from the individual through a standard form and
conducts a background investigation. The scope of this
investigation depends on the risk and sensitivity level of the
position sought. The more sensitive the position level, the
more expansive the investigation. After collecting
investigative information, the Government makes the
appropriate trust determination(s). Most Federal positions
require a suitability/fitness decision and a credentialing
decision, while some also require a national security determination. The Government’s trust
determinations cover the wide range of positions entrusted to Federal employees and contractors. This
can include occupations that care for veterans, teach service members’ children, analyze classified
materials, and build enabling systems for the intelligence community.
Over the past 75 years, the personnel vetting mission space has struggled to keep pace with the world
changing around it. The primary technology used to process background investigations was developed
almost 40 years ago and has not been significantly overhauled since. While most personnel vetting files
have been digitized since the late 1990s, the Government was slow to adapt its underlying business and
operational processes. When confronted with new challenges, the mission space often made workaround
changes without fully aligning them to the existing policy framework. This created a relatively effective
but generally inefficient process.
These inefficiencies contributed, in part, to multiple background investigation backlogs that slowed the
onboarding of personnel, most recently between 2015 and 2019. Delays caused by these backlogs
hindered the ability of agencies to onboard the workforce needed to accomplish their missions. This was
especially detrimental to filling defense, homeland security, intelligence, and critical infrastructure
positions focused on national security issues. Further, appalling betrayals by vetted personnel, such as
Robert Hanssen and Aaron Alexis, also raised concerns regarding the overall effectiveness of the
mission space.
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Cases (thousands)

Starting with the creation of the PAC under Executive Order 13467 in 2008 by President George W.
Bush, the last four Presidential Administrations have attempted to address these problems. Since 2018,
personnel vetting reforms have been pursued through the Trusted Workforce 2.0 initiative—or simply
TW 2.0. These efforts include numerous policy and organizational changes made with bipartisan
congressional support and backing from industry.
My colleagues and I are building on our
predecessors’ successes and learning from their
setbacks. Working more closely with Congress,
industry, and affected agencies, current reforms
offer the Government its most promising window
to effect change in decades. It has led to
significant accomplishments, such as eliminating
the 2015-2019 background investigation backlog.
This success reduced initial end-to-end security
clearance processing from highs in Fiscal Year
(FY) 2019 (an average of 414 days for a Top Secret; 182 days for a Secret) to sustainable levels
today (an average of 128 days for a Top Secret; 78 days for a Secret).

Enrollees (thousands)

After eliminating the background investigation backlog, the PAC shifted towards implementing reforms
that would more fundamentally improve the overall personnel vetting system. A key aspect of this
change was the shift from periodic reinvestigations to continuous vetting. Under periodic
reinvestigations, agencies would primarily focus on intermittent reviews for their national security
workforce after the initial adjudication was approved. These reviews were typically every 5 years for
Top Secret clearances, and every 10 years for a Secret clearance. Under a shift towards continuous
vetting, personnel in national security positions are checked against relevant databases constantly. The
PAC worked aggressively to stand up this capability. It used a phased approach that leveraged an initial
continuous vetting capability—known as TW 1.25—by the end of FY2021. It expanded this capability
to include additional data sources under an interim
maturity stage—known as TW 1.5—by the end of
FY2022. This system is in place today, and it is
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identifying potential security concerns much faster
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than intermittent periodic reinvestigations used
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under traditional vetting. Based on the Department
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of Defense’s (DoD) analysis, this has allowed the
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agency to identify potentially problematic
behavior over a year-and-a-half faster for Top
Secret clearance holders and approximately 7
years faster for Secret clearance holders.
As the PAC Chair, I actively work with my PAC Principal colleagues and the larger interagency
community to improve the mission space. My role is focused on effective cross-agency coordination,
including administration of the governance structure used to drive reforms. I also provide accountability
and facilitate transparency for reform progress. This includes working to ensure agencies are adequately
planning their reform implementations, keeping the public aware of progress by publishing quarterly
updates on Performance.gov, and regularly providing briefing updates to Congress, including this
Committee.

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As its Principals, we have convened the PAC as a full body every quarter since our confirmations. We
quickly recognized the accomplishments made prior to our arrival, such as eliminating the background
investigation backlog and improving timeliness. This led us to push even harder for additional reforms.
Consequently, the four of us meet regularly to oversee implementation, typically several times per
quarter. Enterprise-wide policy and aligned operational transformation requires this level of sustained
leadership to be successful.
Calendar year 2022 was a critical year for implementing personnel vetting reform. Last year, we issued
an implementation strategy to help coordinate progress across the Executive Branch and make the
transition easier for agencies. Additionally, we published key policies that improved the personnel
vetting system, including performance management, investigative standards, and adjudication principles.
In order to mature the continuous vetting capability, we also shifted the national security workforce into
a more robust slate of checks through TW 1.5. While we delivered on these substantial improvements,
the remainder of FY2023 is crucial for ensuring we remain on a path to fully realizing the Trusted
Workforce vision.
The Benefits of Reform
Ultimately, our leadership team will deliver a modernized personnel vetting system that is better
designed to meet the challenges of today. Most importantly, the revised framework will allow agencies
to make more informed decisions based on investigatory information that is provided more quickly. This
is already happening by leveraging continuous vetting to flag potentially concerning information about a
cleared member of the workforce quickly, and will be enhanced when we issue an improved
investigation questionnaire that is simpler to understand and complete. Risk will be further reduced once
the majority of personnel are processed through DoD’s integrated personnel vetting IT system, which is
under development and will feature more expansive cybersecurity protections.
In addition to improved effectiveness, agencies are already able to better accomplish their missions due
to improved onboarding times. This is the result of numerous policy improvements, including greater
standardization and more efficient processes across agencies. Additionally, agencies are beginning to
emphasize faster onboarding of personnel, including by more quickly recognizing each other’s
determination that an individual is trustworthy. Broader improvements to the mobility of the
workforce— military, civilian, and contractor—will be gained through automation once the majority of
personnel can be processed through DoD’s new IT system.
As we are implementing the new personnel vetting system, we are also focused on building a framework
that can evolve over time. This includes a continued commitment to improving the effectiveness and
speed of the process and greater flexibility in adapting to unanticipated threats and novel technologies
that can impact risk.
Reform Direction & Leadership
Once confirmed by the Senate, I quickly reconvened the PAC Principals as a group to focus on
furthering personnel vetting successes already achieved through TW 2.0. As the Chair, I work with my
colleagues to define a clear vision of what the initiative must accomplish to be successful. I also serve to
hold my fellow PAC Principals and the interagency accountable for achieving that vision.

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Performing these roles includes working within the Administration to advance reform. I have
highlighted some recent examples below.
A) Inclusion within the President’s Management Agenda. The Biden-Harris President’s
Management Agenda (PMA) serves as a blueprint for equitable, effective, and accountable
Government that delivers results for all Americans. Within the PMA, the Administration has
highlighted personnel vetting as part of its strategy for Strengthening and Empowering the
Federal Workforce. It specifically seeks to transform personnel vetting into a system that better
supports agency missions and improves workforce mobility while mitigating risk. Released in
November 2021, the PMA puts forth a whole-of-Government focus on critical reforms. It
includes commitments from senior agency representatives on the President’s Management
Council to dedicate the time, energy, and resources to address the PMA’s priorities.
B) Prioritization as a National Security Issue. Improving personnel vetting is a critical management
reform area across the Executive Branch. However, it is especially a key issue for agencies and
cleared companies working in the national security arena. In recognition of its importance and in
alignment with the National Security Memorandum Revitalizing America’s Foreign Policy and
National Security Workforce, Institutions, and Partnerships, I worked with the Assistant to the
President for National Security Affairs to issue a December 2021 memorandum entitled
Transforming Federal Personnel Vetting to Cabinet officials and members of the intelligence
community. The memorandum requested that these agency heads prioritize and immediately
begin TW 2.0 reforms and designate Senior Implementation Officials (SIOs) to be accountable
for their organizations’ progress.
C) Release of the TW 2.0 Implementation Strategy. In April 2022, the PAC released the TW 2.0
Implementation Strategy to establish a roadmap for modernizing its personnel vetting reforms.
The document, which was previously provided to the Committee, identifies actions that agencies
are expected to implement to ensure success. This includes drafting agency-specific TW 2.0
Implementation Plans consistent with the Strategy that the PAC’s leadership uses to hold
agencies accountable for progress. My fellow PAC Principals and I were excited to endorse the
Strategy as part of a broad effort to ensure agency SIOs had the information needed to achieve
reform success within their respective agencies.
D) Directing Agencies to Budget for Reform. As the organization responsible for coordinating the
President’s budget each year, OMB provides annual guidance to agencies through its A-11
circular. The most recent version, issued in August 2022, included instructions for how agencies
should budget for personnel vetting costs tied to their implementation plans as part of core
workforce planning. This guidance encourages agencies to consider expenses related to enrolling
personnel in continuous vetting, ensuring adequate personnel vetting staff, acquiring the IT
resources necessary to implement reforms, and considering the use of personnel vetting shared
services.
E) Ensuring Alignment of Policy and Operational Delivery. In keeping with my interagency
coordination responsibilities for driving reform efforts and enterprise development, I work
closely with my fellow PAC Principals to drive core policy updates—such as the recently issued
investigative standards—developed in an aligned manner and on track with implementation
milestones. I also confer with my colleagues on operational workstreams. This includes tracking
timely continuous vetting enrollments, delivery of enabling IT systems, and responding to the
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Government Accountability Office. My ultimate goal is to ensure that these efforts remain on
track and meet policy, budgetary, and transparency requirements.
Driving Implementation & Accountability
One of my responsibilities as PAC Chair—in addition to lifting up personnel vetting efforts so its legacy
of prioritization across successive Administrations continues—is to ensure reform guidance is
understood and adopted across the Executive Branch. The most direct method the PAC leadership uses
to accomplish this is through the TW 2.0 Implementation Strategy. This document organizes the highly
complex choreography of reforms into thirteen strategic actions and establishes success indicators that
illustrate whether each is on track to achieve the desired outcome. Additionally, the Strategy provides
agencies with guidance, templates, timelines, and other tools to support their TW 2.0 Implementation
Plans.
While a key instrument for driving reform implementation, the Strategy is only one of several
reinforcing means available. Additional tools the PAC Principals use to encourage implementation
progress include:
A) TW 2.0 Executive Steering Group. A group of senior Government officials representing key
national security agencies, as well as senior representatives from industry. This group helps
inform the strategic direction of the TW 2.0 initiative. It ensures both that the organizations most
impacted by reforms are able to share their perspective and that programmatic decisions will
usher in the desired direction. This also provides the opportunity to obtain the buy-in necessary
to drive improvements and have them be effectively adopted.
B) TW 2.0 Workforce Advisory Group. An operational-level group representing personnel security
offices across the Executive Branch. The PAC leadership works with this group to keep agencies
up to date with changes and collect feedback. By keeping operational managers informed of
anticipated reforms, they are better equipped to make the changes needed to adopt them. They
are also pivotal for flagging issues that could undermine specific reforms under consideration
before moving to the final implementation phase.
C) Quarterly Committee Briefings. These briefings are offered by senior PAC leaders to
congressional staff members from the oversight, intelligence, armed services, homeland security,
and appropriations committees of both chambers. The core intent is to keep Congress informed
of progress in key reform areas. However, these briefings also help the PAC better understand
which reforms might require additional scrutiny or prioritization.
D) Performance.gov Quarterly Progress Reports. Since the creation of TW 2.0, the PAC has
provided updates to the public by posting progress reports on Performance.gov. These updates
provide performance metrics and track what key milestones have been met. Reporting updates
publicly ensures greater transparency and helps hold us accountable for achieving our objectives.
The Path Forward
Personnel vetting has come a long way over the last few years. As my colleagues will outline in their
statements, modernized policy and tools have dramatically increased the speed and effectiveness of
vetting processes.
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Continuous vetting allows agencies to become aware of concerning behavior within their workforces
faster than ever before. Some agencies—especially DoD—have reformed their processes to make
reciprocal decisions quickly and with minimal bureaucratic delays. This has led to a dramatically
improved experience for previously vetted personnel taking new jobs at different agencies.
Despite these successes, I recognize that substantial work is still ahead of us in order to meet all of our
objectives. The PAC has released the policies and established core transitional capabilities, and now we
must keep our focus on full agency-level implementation of the revised vetting framework through
DoD’s new end-to-end IT platform, currently under development. I fully expect, as with every major
governmentwide reform of this scale, we will continue to experience bumps along the way. I am
determined to have the PAC Principals and their staffs continue to work together until we reach our
overall reform goals.
I look forward to continuing to work with the Committee on ensuring that TW 2.0 is a success for the
American people. As we move forward, I would ask that you maintain the spirit of bipartisan
participation that has enabled our successes to date over multiple Administrations. Additionally, I would
like your assistance in two key areas:
1) Guide enactment of any legislative changes necessary to align existing statutes with TW 2.0
reforms, as required in the FY2023 Intelligence Authorization Act.
2) Help ensure that the PAC can remain focused on the most critical elements of reform by
minimizing legislative requirements that do not address the most urgent reform issues.
While many of the historical challenges have been addressed in policy, we still have the significant task
of implementing them across the Executive Branch and industry. Working together, we will implement a
more effective personnel vetting system that will deliver a stronger workforce to the American public
for decades to come.

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