It's tough to get a bad grade from anyone, especially the General Accountability Office. But that's what happened this week to the Department of Defense when the GAO issued a report criticizing it for taking departmentwide screening standards for foreign nationals working for private security contractors.

DoD has known about this shortcoming for a long time. It's been ordered to establish departmentwide standards but hasn't done so, according to the GAO report released July 31. As usual, it's a long drawn-out bureaucratic process that could be creating unnecessary risk.

DoD's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence wants foreign nationals to undergo the same screening used for U.S. citizens. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics said it's not possible because there are no standard foreign criminal and employment records. Does this mean the U.S. lets down its guard? You betcha!

The GAO had some pretty harsh words for the DoD, saying it is putting the government at risk of hiring criminals or otherwise unqualified workers. We'll let you know when there's an answer to this urgent problem.

For more on DoD and contractors:
- check out this Federal Times article