WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- The office of the U.S. National Intelligence director is looking into the contracting out of intelligence-gathering positions, The Washington Post reported.
With thousands of jobs being advertised for people with security clearances and promising pay well above what the government can match, federal agencies face a circumstance in which people leave government service and end up doing the same job for more money as a contractor, the Post said.
"Once cleared, they can get higher salary outside and they are gone. We're leasing back our former employees," an unnamed senior intelligence official told the newspaper.
By using contract employees, the government can lose direct control over the employees, and politics and corruption are often a result, the Post said.
William Golden, who operates IntelligenceCareers Inc., said up to 70 percent of those taking contract positions received security clearances while in the U.S. military and only about 15 percent were granted clearance while working for a contractor.
