US grand jury probing contractor that vetted Snowden

The company that conducted the most recent security review of former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden is the subject of a federal grand jury investigation into its background check processes, the Wall Street Journal reported today, citing people involved with the probe.

The grand jury has issued subpoenas to former USIS officials in recent days, the paper reported.

US Investigations Services, LLC said the company does not comment on specific issues related to investigations or litigation.

“With respect to this matter, the company has been cooperating fully with the government throughout its investigation and continues to do so,” USIS said in a statement.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on the issue, while a spokeswoman for the Justice Department had no immediate response to an inquiry about the grand jury probe.

Mr Snowden, who as a US National Security Agency contractor had undergone a USIS security review in 2011, is facing US espionage charges after disclosing details of secret US surveillance programs.

After leaving the country and spending weeks holed up in the transit area of a Moscow airport, he was granted temporary asylum in Russia this week.

USIS, a Falls Church, Virginia-based company that is the largest private provider of federal government background checks, has been under investigation by the inspector general for the US Office of Personnel Management.

While that probe predates the Snowden scandal, concerns have been raised about whether the company’s background check into Mr Snowden was carried out in an appropriate manner.

(Reuters)