The background check company that vetted Edward Snowden and faces fraud accusations from the Justice Department has refused a congressional request for details about executive bonus payouts and the identities of some former officials. <\/p>\n
The company does not anticipate making a further response, a lobbyist for USIS wrote in an April 10 email to Democratic staffers on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. <\/p>\n
SEE ALSO: Contractor that vetted Snowden gets load of work after paying lobbyists <\/p>\n
The previously undisclosed email correspondence, obtained by The Washington Times last week, was in response to requests to USIS by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland Democrat and ranking member of the oversight committee. <\/p>\n
He wanted to know, among other things, how the company awarded bonuses, whether it conducted any internal investigations into fraud accusations and what, if any, actions officials took to claw back six- and seven-figure bonuses to former executives. <\/p>\n
Those questions were raised in the wake of a Justice Department civil lawsuit accusing USIS of claiming it completed about 650,000 background investigations that actually remained unfinished, while receiving millions of dollars in performance awards from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. <\/p>\n
The company has addressed some of the issues raised by Mr. Cummings publicly, but not all of the information sought by the congressman has been disclosed. So far, the company has resisted providing answers. <\/p>\n
Mr. Cummings inquiry was forwarded to USIS in March by Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House oversight panel, which held a hearing in February into last years Washington Navy Yard shootings. The gunman, Aaron Alexis, was vetted by USIS, which is a part of Virginia-based Altegrity Inc. <\/p>\n
Months after requesting information from USIS CEO Sterling Phillips both at a hearing and in his follow-up letter Mr. Cummings is increasingly frustrated that his questions remain unanswered. <\/p>\n
The CEO of USIS committed under oath that he would answer questions from the committee, but now his lobbyists say he refuses, Mr. Cummings told The Washington Times. <\/p>\n
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