The State Department is under fire for suspending security clearances for minor alleged offenses. Some officers have been collecting full pay and benefits, while doing little or no work. Security clearance procedures were tightened after Sept. 11.
STEVE INSKEEP, host: We're going to move now from security in Afghanistan to questions about      security at the US State Department.  A number of career foreign service      officers claim the security clearance process has become overly      aggressive since the September 11th attacks.  They charge that clearances      are being suspended for minor or unproven offenses.  More than three      dozen career officers say they've been left in limbo collecting full pay      and benefits but unable to do their jobs.  The State Department insists      the clearance process is working fine and NPR's Mary Louise Kelly looked      into it.</s>MARY LOUISE KELLY reporting: For Bill Savich, the story begins in 2003.  He was serving in a key US      embassy overseeing security when he was accused of having an improper      relationship with a local woman.  In June 2003, his security clearance      was suspended. Savich denies he did anything wrong, but he says      investigators for the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security      have been relentless.</s>Mr. BILL SAVICH (Career Foreign Service Officer): BDS pursued a      investigation based on gossip, innuendo, seeking sexual details and      meanwhile, my clearance was pulled and I've been waiting and waiting and      waiting.</s>KELLY: Savich's story is echoed by other foreign service officers who've      contacted NPR.  Several have also been waiting more than two years after      their clearances were pulled for offenses that would seem to have little      to do with national security--misuse of a government vehicle, for      example, or alleged sexual misconduct.  There have been concerns about US      officials being subject to blackmail for such infractions.  Daniel Hirsch      has been a State Department diplomat for 20 years.  He says part of the      problem is if a clearance has been suspended but not revoked, there's no      appeals process.  Investigations into merely suspended clearances can      drag on for years.</s>Mr. DANIEL HIRSCH (State Department Diplomat): There has been a trend to      say that really anywhere there is smoke, there is fire, and nobody is      innocent. And if you investigate an allegation and you don't find      anything, well, then you just keep looking.</s>KELLY: Hirsch was recalled to Washington in February 2003 after his wife      asked for marital counseling.  Hirsch's clearance was suspended and since      then, he's been assigned what he calls a `make work' job with no chance      of promotion or overseas travel.</s>Mr. DANIEL HIRSCH (State Department Diplomat): And in my case, what started out as an investigation into      the question of spousal abuse and then, of course, found no evidence of      spousal abuse, they then just decided what the heck.  We'll keep      investigating him. And they've gone back roughly 25 years in my      professional career looking for any evidence of anything.</s>KELLY: Sharon Papp is general counsel for the American Foreign Service      Association.  She represents Hirsch, Savich and 19 other foreign service      officers in clearance cases.  Papp declined to speak on tape, but she did      provide an article she's written for the upcoming issue of the Foreign      Service Journal.  It argues that diplomatic security officials have in      several cases relied on unsubstantiated rumors in revoking clearances.      And it says their investigations take way too long.  The Bureau of      Diplomatic Security turned down NPR's repeated requests for comment, but      State Department spokesman Adam Ereli defends investigators as working as      fast as they can in difficult circumstances.</s>Mr. ADAM ERELI (State Department Spokesman): Sometimes the      investigations are complicated.  They involve activities overseas.  They      involve talking to people that are hard to find or new information comes.      So it's not always as fast as everybody would like, but it's done the      way that I think is deliberate and careful and designed to move forward      as quickly as they can.</s>KELLY: As to whether the State Department has changed its ways since      September 11th and grown overly zealous in policing security clearances,      there's disagreement.  A second State Department official, speaking on      condition his name not be used, admits, `Are we more concerned about      security post-9/11?  Sure, we'll plead guilty to that.'  But he says,      `We're not breaking the rules, and the rules haven't changed since      September 11th.'  Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News, Washington.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News.