The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is requiring that virtually all non-federal employees working on contracts or subcontracts with the Department submit materials authorizing a "security clearance." This policy erodes the privacy of thousands of people, wastes taxpayers' money, and accomplishes nothing.
The Bush administration has required thousands of non-federal employees working on contracts to submit their fingerprints and answer a long list of personal questions authorizing what they call a “security clearance” (sometimes called a "security screening"). These requirements affect civilian contracts unrelated to classified or national security work. Many contractor employees are also being required to authorize credit/financial checks and to authorize the government to ask their doctor certain health questions!
These requirements are dramatically different than hundreds of years of past policy and far exceed any legitimate need. Contractor employees do not know who will see private information they submit, how it will be judged, where it will be kept, for how long, and how safe it will be from loss or abuse. There are provisions in law, contract language, and regulations that protect the privacy of any personally identifiable data gathered by contractors (e.g., student test scores) and that address other reasonable concerns about ED contracts.
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