Federal Background Checks Faked by Some Investigators

The investigators who conduct background checks on prospective government hires requiring a security clearance—like the one National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden had—are supposed to cast a wide net. They comb through an applicant’s credit reports and court records and interview family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, old bosses, and ex-spouses in search of any incriminating detail that might put state secrets at risk.

But what if these screeners are themselves ethically challenged? Turns out some investigators are faking reports, making them look far more thorough than they actually are. Former investigator Kayla Smith submitted 1,600 phony credit reports over an 18-month period, according to the inspector general for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees 95 percent of the government’s background checks. Another vettor, Ramon Davila, filed reports claiming he’d interviewed people he’d never spoken to and obtained records he’d never seen, federal court records show. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a third, Anthony Domico, claimed to have interviewed someone who’d been dead for more than a decade.