[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H1416-H1417]
SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN CLEARANCE INVESTIGATIONS ACT OF 2017
Mr. BLUM. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 3737) to provide for a study on the use of social media in
security clearance investigations.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows
H.R. 3737
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Social Media Use in
Clearance Investigations Act of 2017''.
SEC. 2. STUDY ON USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN SECURITY CLEARANCE
INVESTIGATIONS.
Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
shall submit to Congress a report on the examination of
social media activity during security clearance
investigations, including--
(1) the current use of publicly available social media in
security clearance background investigations;
(2) any legal impediments to examining publicly available
social media activity, and whether those impediments are
statutory or regulatory in nature;
(3) the results of any pilot programs to incorporate social
media checks in such investigations, including the
effectiveness and cost of such programs;
(4) options for widespread implementation of the
examination of social media activity during such
investigations; and
(5) estimates on the cost for such options as part of--
(A) all Top Secret investigations; or
(B) all Secret and Top Secret investigations.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Iowa (Mr. Blum) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Iowa.
General Leave
Mr. BLUM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Iowa?
There was no objection.
Mr. BLUM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3737, the Social Media
Use in Clearance Investigations Act of 2017, introduced by the
gentleman from Florida, Representative DeSantis.
According to the Pew Research Center, 7 in 10 Americans use social
media today. A significant portion of those Americans' personal and
professional interactions occur online. It is just common sense that
the government should check the social media of individuals who apply
for security clearances, but it doesn't.
H.R. 3737 will move the government toward implementing checks of
social media for individuals we trust with our country's most sensitive
information.
The bill requires a study of the use of social media in security
clearance investigations to inform government-wide implementation of
social media checks. The study will provide comprehensive information
on existing pilot programs, lessons learned, and costs.
We must begin the process of strengthening the system now, and that
starts with determining best practices for moving forward.
H.R. 3737 will help ensure that government checks social media before
issuing security clearances.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I think this bill is long overdue and recognizes the
internet world in which we live and operate.
This bill would require the Director of the Office of Personnel
Management to issue a report to Congress on the use of social media
checks in background investigations for security clearances.
In recent years, a number of agencies have begun pilot programs to
help develop the best methods of incorporating social media into those
background checks. For example, the Army initiated a pilot program that
found that while checking social media is a
[[Page H1417]]
valuable tool, it can be costly and may raise some legal issues.
This bill would require that OPM conduct a comprehensive study on
those issues and report back to the Congress. This one-time report
would describe the current uses of social media postings for
investigative purposes and any legal concerns or impediments that may
arise. In addition, the report would summarize the results of any pilot
programs on the use of social media conducted to date and provide cost
estimates for implementing their widespread use in background
investigative processes.
The report would greatly assist Congress, I believe, in determining
whether further legislative action is needed when it comes to the
Federal Government's use of social media in background investigations.
This bill was approved without opposition by our committee, the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, last year, and I
certainly commend it to our colleagues today.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Lynch for their
leadership on what I think is a commonsense measure that will actually
improve the process.
Mr. Speaker, I urge every Member to support the bill, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. BLUM. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. DeSantis), the sponsor of this bill.
Mr. DeSANTIS. Mr. Speaker, in the private sector, if an employer is
going to hire somebody, a lot of times they will do a Google search,
they will check social media postings to try to learn a little bit more
about this prospective employee.
It may be hard to believe, but the Federal Government often fails to
conduct a simple internet search on individuals before they are trusted
with a security clearance.
Publicly available social media is one of the best ways to understand
an individual's interests and intentions, but our investigatory process
still focuses on interviewing the applicant's family, friends, and
neighbors. For over a decade, various agencies, including the Office of
Personnel Management, have conducted studies and pilot programs to
assess the effectiveness of social media checks in security clearance
investigations. Congress has not been provided those results.
What this bill will do is it will require these agencies to identify
best practices so that we can use this going forward to make sure that
the people who are employed by this government, armed with a security
clearance, who have access to sensitive information that puts the
security of the country at risk, that these are people whom we want to
have there and they are not folks who have ulterior designs.
A lot of times it is going to be much more informative to look at
their publicly available writings than to talk to somebody who may have
lived next door to them in an apartment 10 years ago.
I think that this bill is overdue.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) for
cosponsoring it for me, and I am proud to be here today as the sponsor.
I think this should have bipartisan support. I think it will give us
some good answers and we can move forward and modernize this process.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, we think this is a commonsense bill. I agree
with the sentiments just expressed by our friend from Florida that, in
today's day and age, we can't not take cognizance of social media, and
it can be a useful tool in evaluating someone's security clearance
application.
We also understand it could be a tool that is used to invade people's
privacy, and we want to avoid that. That is why what this bill does is
call for a report looking at all of the legal ramifications and the
practicality of utilizing this tool to get to a better outcome in the
process of security clearances.
Mr. Speaker, I support the bill and commend it to our colleagues.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BLUM. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Blum) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 3737.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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