Case of MacDill Imposter Scott Bennett Raises Serious Questions About Security Clearance Process

Posted Dec 2, 2011 by Howard Altman

Updated Dec 3, 2011 at 12:07 AM

There is something particularly disturbing about the case of Scott Allen Bennett, who was recently sentenced to three years in prison for lying to get onto base housing at MacDill Air Force Base.

In its sentencing memorandum, the government argued that any sentence less than three years would be inadequate because of how Bennett “manipulated” people and created a very real security risk.

This much I have reported: Bennett was able to talk his way onto a plane ferrying then-U.S. Special Operations Command honcho Adm. Eric Olson from Washington to Tampa. He then lied his way onto base housing and managed to bring a rather sizable cache of weapons onto the base.

He also managed to get into the Joint Intelligence Operations Center as an intel analyst with Booz Allen Hamilton.

And here is what may be the most disturbing part of the story of Scott Allen Bennett, a man who apparently has a hard time distinguishing fact from fiction, but has an uncanny ability to convince those he comes in contact with that fiction is, in fact, fact.

The government’s presentencing memorandum complains that Bennett lied when he obtained his security clearance. To wit, he failed to tell those in charge of clearing him that he was convicted for trying to bring an illegal alien into the country – a woman he met over the internet.

What’s even more disturbing than Bennett lying is that the clearance examiners took his word for it when a cursory check of the PACER system would have flagged the fact that on Jan. 18, 2008, he was sentenced to three years probation for trying to smuggle his internet friend into the country and that he was on probation at the time he was hired by Booz Allen Hamilton to work in the Joint Intelligence Operations Center.

This is extremely disturbing. I repeat the question that Judge Virginia Covington asked when Bennett was convicted.

How could he get his clearance?

And I’ll take it one step further. If the people who hire people to work in secure locations, and if those who dish out the highest level security clearances can’t do what a half-way decent newspaper intern or law clerk can do, what else are they missing?