White House turns to Pentagon in US background checks shake-up

Stinging rebuke: The National Background Investigations Bureau will replace the Office of Personnel Management

WASHINGTON: The US government will set up a new agency to do background checks on employees and contractors, the White House said, after a massive breach of US government files exposed the personal data of millions of people last year. 

As a part of a sweeping overhaul, the Obama administration said it will establish a National Background Investigations Bureau. It will replace the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) Federal Investigative Services (FIS), which currently conducts each year more than 2 million background investigations for scores of federal agencies.