DCSA targets growing clearance backlog with tiger team and IT upgrades

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is addressing a rising backlog of security clearance background investigations that has reached nearly 300,000 cases—the highest since 2019. FedNewsNetwork reports that average investigation times for secret and top-secret clearances far exceed agency goals, with secret-level investigations taking 68 days (target: 40 days) and top-secret cases averaging 169 days (target: 80 days).

DCSA’s director commissioned a "tiger team" to tackle bottlenecks in workload forecasting, management, and processing throughput. Identified bottlenecks include delays in final records checks and reviews. Early improvements are expected by January 2025.

Simultaneously, DCSA is rolling out its first High Impact Service Provider (HISP) action plan, which aims to enhance applicant experience through better resources, surveys, and web tools. Additionally, progress is being made on the National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) IT platform, a critical but delayed Trusted Workforce 2.0 initiative. Recent steps include recovery sprints and a pivot to cloud migration.

These changes come as the Trump administration seeks to rely on private sector background investigations to vet candidates before they receive presidential grants of security clearance.