Posted on 09/18/2013 12:45:53 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Officials probing Aaron Alexis's background and possible motivation for killing 12 Navy Yard employees are facing the very real possibility that the massacre isn't a the result of a troubled man slipping through cracks in the system so much as an example of a flawed system working exactly as designed.
Early reports suggest that Alexis was a heavy drinker with anger issues and a history of run-ins with both the military and the law, including eight instances where Navy superiors cited him for misconduct and three occasions when he was arrested on a variety of charges, including possible gun crimes.
A military official familiar with the case, however, said that none of that would have been enough to raise the types of red flags that would have prevented Alexis from obtaining the badge that allowed him to walk into the secure Navy Yard compound without being searched.
The official's account may be part of the military's early attempts to avoid blame for the shooting, but it nevertheless offers a detailed look into the reasons Alexis may have been able to carry out his rampage.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.foreignpolicy.com ...
One of the government facilities in the Washington Navy Yard is, or at least used to be, NPIC (National Photographic Interpretation Center). Back in my working days, most of the overhead reconnaissance data collected by the USA was processed and handled there. Before being cleared for access there to install some new equipment, I had to pass a polygraph test. That was the only time in some 40 years of working on sensitive programs that I ever had that experience. Of course the result was a temporary badge and related paperwork. I doubt if anyone with a history of mental illness would have found it easy to pass. I would guess that NPIC was not the only highly restricted location in the Navy Yard even then.
Yikes! With the cost of living in DC, twelve bucks an hour really is poverty wages.
Maybe this guy was planning to apply at Walmart to get a raise and got PO-ed when the Mayor vetoed that living wage bill?
Yeah no kidding. I got a parking ticket that was thrown out. When I went for my SCI with poly, I had forgotten to list that ticket. Considering the grilling I had to go through on the follow up, I thought they were going to deny the clearance on that one issue.
Security Clearances USE to be hard to obtain, however during the Clinton Administration the requirements were greatly relaxed (rumors at the time were that it was because a lot of Clinton’s top people had a history of drug use and/or a history of contacts with anti-american organizations and simply would not have qualified for a clearance under the old system). Now about the only thing that will disqualify you is a pattern of criminal history or just outright lying on the SF-76 form.
A security clearance has nothing to do with getting on a base and nothing to do with being searched.
Not sure what your background is but it’s obviously not military related.
I agree. He should have been arrested and convicted.
I don’t believe it would have changed the outcome. He would have found a way to obtain a weapon.
It’s not as if he was dumb. Quite the opposite.
He got the shotgun and planned to obtain more by shooting those who had them, so he co-opt their use to continue his murdurous spree.
LOL!
Oh man...
LOL!
Your clearance is good for 5 years. The process is supposed to start the month before your expiration date. However, your clearance will remain active during the process which could stretch out another 6 months to a year.
Maybe it could have been prevented if they weren’t giving him medications that have a track record of putting people at risk for doing something like this. But I guess it’s easier to blame the gun.
Somehow, I suspect that for members a certain unprotected class of people, being "a heavy drinker with anger issues and a history of run-ins with both the military and the law, including eight instances where Navy superiors cited him for misconduct and three occasions when he was arrested on a variety of charges, including possible gun crimes" would STILL prevent them from obtaining or maintaining a security clearance.
Same as my experience working in a civilian laboratory where classified information was held -- without the clearance I wouldn't have been able to get the entry badge.
I don’t think you are inferring that those on psychotropic drugs should be be denied their rights but, that is the step they want to take.
I wonder if Tipper Gore would be conflicted shoukd they go down that path.
“Alexis admitted to shooting out the tires, but told police he had acted while in an anger-induced “blackout.”
People subject to “anger induced blackouts” that involved shots fired should not be allowed to own firearms or be eligible for jobs involving national security clearance.
Of the least that should happen to people with “anger induced blackouts” that involved shots fired” is that they should be immediately remanded to a “facility” for a complete psychological evaluation, before being released in to society.
And 33 years of working on a Navy bases around the world you don’t need a security clearance to get the badge that gives you access to the base. A clearance allows you access to classified information you have a need to know based on your job and that access is compartmentalized. A Secret Clearnace doesn’t get you access to everything Secret. The CAC card doesn’t show what clearance you may or may not have.
There’s hundreds of workers on base that have Common Access Cards (CAC) without any clearance. You have hundreds of delivery drivers that access bases every day without a CAC card or badge. The list goes on on how you can gain access without a particular badge or CAC card.
Security Clearances are good for 5 or 10 years depending on the Clearance type ot when you transfer as a contractor from one job to another or to Government or government to contractor you still get access with a paper pass while your background check is completed. My last one took 6 months and I was on base every day doing the same job.
That's not the issue. The issue is that he was not denied a clearance or access based on the clearance background investigation. In other words, if "red flags" had come up he might well have been denied access to the base and not issued a clearance. That he was not disqualified is akin to saying that with the successful background investigation he was granted access to the base (and granted a clearance). This doesn't in any way deny that other individuals get access to the base without a clearance or even any background investigation at all. As you pointed out, numerous paths to base access exist.
Last comment, you can have your clearance denied, pulled or reduced based on a background check but still get or retain a CAC card. You can also get a clearance with a pretty nasty background. It depends on what you’re doing and how valuable you may be.
On a lighter note Obama was granted one... so that pretty much sums up how bad your back ground can be and still get a clearance.
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