WASHINGTON (AP) — A senator says the government contractor that performed a background investigation of the man who disclosed two National Security Agency surveillance programs is under criminal investigation.
Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said at a Senate hearing Thursday that the contractor USIS (YOU-sis) is being investigated by the Office of Personnel Management's inspector general.
McCaskill says the inspector general's inquiry is related to what she calls the company's "systemic failure" to adequately conduct investigations under its contract with the Office of Personnel Management.
McCaskill says that USIS conducted a background investigation in 2011 for Edward Snowden, who worked for government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
Snowden says he is behind the revelations about the NSA's collection of Americans' phone records and Internet data from U.S. Internet companies.
