Revelations that Aaron Alexis was twice able to pass the government’s security check system despite a history of arrests, mental illness and shooting incidents triggered on Tuesday multiple examinations into how background checks are conducted, a system already under scrutiny in the wake of NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks of classified documents.
President Obama directed his budget office to conduct a government-wide review of security standards for contractors and employees across federal agencies.
Graphic
Read eyewitness accounts from the Navy Yard shooting.
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Matthew Maasdam offers training to mitigate danger from “active shooter” incidents.
WATCH | Here are 20 years of shootings that have shocked the area and made headlines nationwide.
Carol Leonnig and Ed O’Keefe
Alexis twice passed background checks despite history of arrests, shootings, mental illness
Sari Horwitz, Craig Whitlock and Jerry Markon
Aaron Alexis received mental health treatment at VA hospitals, law enforcement officials say.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel intends to order a security review at all U.S. military bases worldwide.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered a broad review into security and access to military installations worldwide. And leading members of Congress said they would launch investigations into how federal agencies assess the security risks of potential hires.
Meanwhile, a Defense Department report released Tuesday raised questions about whether the Navy had been properly conducting such checks on government contractors.
Alexis, a military contractor working on a computer project, used his secret-level clearance to gain entry Monday to the Washington Navy Yard, where officials said he gunned down a dozen people before being killed by police.
The owner of the company that employed Alexis said he would not have hired the Fort Worth computer technician if he had known about some of his brushes with the law, and he said the military should have shared more information with the company about Alexis’s history.
Thomas Hoshko, chief executive officer of The Experts, said he was disturbed to learn from The Washington Post and other news outlets about police reports alleging that Alexis shot out a construction worker’s tire in Seattle in 2004 and fired a bullet through the ceiling of his Fort Worth apartment in 2010, barely missing his upstairs neighbor.
“If I can find this out just by doing a Google search, that is sad,” Hoshko said. “Anything that suggests criminal problems or mental health issues, that would be a flag. We would not have hired him.”
Alexis was working with The Experts on its subcontract with Hewlett-Packard to update and replace computers for Navy and Marine Corps installations.
The company confirmed Tuesday morning that Alexis had been working since July at six different installations — including Arlington, Va., Cherry Point, N.C., and Stafford, Va. He had worked for several days before the shooting at the Navy Yard. Alexis’s work at the sites was previously unknown.
Hoshko said he and other contracting firms rely on the military to approve the security clearances of their employees, and he fears that budget crunches have led to faster and less thorough checks. His company did not do its own background check but did conduct a new drug test, part of its standard procedure for updating security clearances and for new employees.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he plans to investigate “a number of things” in the coming weeks — especially how Alexis could have been employed by a federal contractor despite his arrest records and treatment for mental illness.
President Obama directed his budget office to conduct a government-wide review of security standards for contractors and employees across federal agencies.
Graphic
Read eyewitness accounts from the Navy Yard shooting.
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Matthew Maasdam offers training to mitigate danger from “active shooter” incidents. WATCH | Here are 20 years of shootings that have shocked the area and made headlines nationwide.- Run, Hide or Fight? A Navy SEAL’s advice
- Witnesses: Navy Yard shooter aimed at us
- Obama on Navy Yard shooting
- Lanier: Officers arrived 2 minutes after call
Carol Leonnig and Ed O’Keefe Alexis twice passed background checks despite history of arrests, shootings, mental illness
Sari Horwitz, Craig Whitlock and Jerry Markon Aaron Alexis received mental health treatment at VA hospitals, law enforcement officials say.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel intends to order a security review at all U.S. military bases worldwide.- Pentagon to order security review
- Essay from Navy civilian contractor
- Navy Yard: A neighborhood transformed
- Foreigners no longer surprised at U.S. violence
- First confusion, then ‘we just started running’
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered a broad review into security and access to military installations worldwide. And leading members of Congress said they would launch investigations into how federal agencies assess the security risks of potential hires.
Meanwhile, a Defense Department report released Tuesday raised questions about whether the Navy had been properly conducting such checks on government contractors.
Alexis, a military contractor working on a computer project, used his secret-level clearance to gain entry Monday to the Washington Navy Yard, where officials said he gunned down a dozen people before being killed by police.
The owner of the company that employed Alexis said he would not have hired the Fort Worth computer technician if he had known about some of his brushes with the law, and he said the military should have shared more information with the company about Alexis’s history.
Thomas Hoshko, chief executive officer of The Experts, said he was disturbed to learn from The Washington Post and other news outlets about police reports alleging that Alexis shot out a construction worker’s tire in Seattle in 2004 and fired a bullet through the ceiling of his Fort Worth apartment in 2010, barely missing his upstairs neighbor.
“If I can find this out just by doing a Google search, that is sad,” Hoshko said. “Anything that suggests criminal problems or mental health issues, that would be a flag. We would not have hired him.”
Alexis was working with The Experts on its subcontract with Hewlett-Packard to update and replace computers for Navy and Marine Corps installations.
The company confirmed Tuesday morning that Alexis had been working since July at six different installations — including Arlington, Va., Cherry Point, N.C., and Stafford, Va. He had worked for several days before the shooting at the Navy Yard. Alexis’s work at the sites was previously unknown.
Hoshko said he and other contracting firms rely on the military to approve the security clearances of their employees, and he fears that budget crunches have led to faster and less thorough checks. His company did not do its own background check but did conduct a new drug test, part of its standard procedure for updating security clearances and for new employees.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he plans to investigate “a number of things” in the coming weeks — especially how Alexis could have been employed by a federal contractor despite his arrest records and treatment for mental illness.