EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of contractors holding important information security jobs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have for years been working as high-level operators of its computer systems without the appropriate security background checks — a situation the agency is still scrambling to correct. During all that time, the agency apparently did not even have a complete list of all the “high-risk” positions where detailed background investigations of outside contractors were required. In other instances, the agency had assigned lower levels of background scrutiny to the positions than the importance of the positions -- and their information access -- deserved, according to preliminary investigations carried out by the EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG). Moreover, despite much-touted efforts to tighten up cybersecurity by the Obama administration, the situation was still bad when Obama left office. An internal EPA tally in February 2017 showed that nearly 70 percent of 484 contractors carrying a special, embedded-chip card allowing “elevated access” to EPA computer systems for their work still had not gotten their higher-level background checks. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/17/obama-epa-did-not-do-background-checks-on-hundreds-cyber-contractors-watchdog-warns.html