Feds Can Finally Probe Social Media Sites As Part Of Background Checks For Security Clearances


Federal investigators from 22 agencies can now probe social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook, as a part of background checks for security clearances.

As noted by CBS News, while it may seem like checking social media would be routine by now, lawmakers said Friday the announcement is “a classic case of the government playing catch-up with technology.”

Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, signed a new policy directive that allows investigators to collect social media information that is made public that pertains exclusively to the person whose background is being checked.

The policy stipulates that unless there is a national security concern or the need to report a crime, information discovered about people who appear in the subject’s social media will not be investigated or pursued.

Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Committee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said it just makes sense to investigate a person’s social media accounts during an investigation.

“It defied common sense for the government to overlook social media data available to anyone with an Internet connection.”

Chaffetz acknowledged that it was high time the intelligence community was taking steps to rectify “such a glaring lapse in our security clearance process.”

William Evanina, who leads the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in an opinion piece for The Hill newspaper that it may surprise the public to know that sometimes the government is not as current with technology as one would assume.

“It may surprise many readers to know the government only now is codifying its approach to the virtual lives of the people it entrusts with real secrets. What may be less surprising is that technology often outpaces policy.”

According to Evanina’s op-ed, the policy does not allow the government to “request or require individuals subject to the background investigation to provide passwords or log into private accounts, or take any action that would disclose non-publicly available media information.”

Evinina said the government must remain vigilant in using social media to conduct background checks appropriately.

“(Agencies must) strike the right balance between what we need to… obtain reasonably from social media in the ever-growing Internet age and balance that with the civil liberties and privacy (of people seeking clearances).”

The Wall Street Journal reports that ODNI said it wouldn’t require anyone to provide social media passwords or account information, nor would they be required to reveal any pseudonyms that they might use on social media.

Steven Aftergood, the director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists and an expert in government secrecy, told Motherboard that this social media policy has been in the works for eight years.

“The policy seems innocuous to me, because it relies exclusively on publicly available material. For the same reason, I’m not sure it will have a lot of value for security purposes.”

Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., praised the policy, calling it a good step in the right direction but cautions that the government must be more vigilant in being up-to-date with technological advances.

“I must also say that national security demands that Congress and the administration work together to ensure that our national security framework is able to adapt to evolving technologies must faster than the usual pace that is characteristic of the federal government.”

According to CBS News, more than 4 million U.S. citizens hold federal security clearances allowing them to access classified national security information and would be subject to the social media probes.

[Photo illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

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