Washington, D.C.—Congressman Stephen F. Lynch, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service & the Census, issued the following statement in response to the reports released by the Department of Defense on the Washington Navy Yard Shooting and the report released by the Office of Management and Budget after a 120-day review of the federal government’s security clearance and suitability process ordered by President Obama after the Washington Navy Yard Shooting last September:    

“The recent government reviews related to the tragic shootings at the Washington Navy Yard again highlight the significant lapses in our security clearance framework. As the sponsor of H.R. 4022, the Security Clearance Reform Act, I am encouraged that both the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget have called for the implementation of continuous evaluation of federal security clearances as well as increased information-sharing among federal, state, and local law enforcement entities.  Our legislation, cosponsored by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, would require that those steps be taken. H.R. 4022 would also require that only federal employees, rather than outside contractors, are assigned the most critical work, including Top Secret level-background investigations. Hopefully, we can now achieve bipartisan support for these common sense reforms.”