The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) bureau responsible for issuing security clearances has not been impacted by the government shutdown as they work to reduce the major backlog of background investigations numbering 600,000 at the end of 2018, down from a high of 725,000 in April. Officials have stated that

“The Defense Department and Office of Personnel Management expect to have merged two offices and moved 2,000 federal employees and a 600,000-case backlog of security clearance investigations nine months from now. The new office will be established under the Defense Security Service by Oct. 1, Director for Defense Intelligence Garry