Washington, DC - OPM Director Linda M. Springer awarded the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) its 2007 Guardian Award Monday, recognizing the agency for its achievements in dealing with personnel security challenges.

"Keeping the American people safe is the most important role the Federal Government is entrusted with," said Springer. "This year's Guardian Award recognizes a group of employees at the Environmental Protection Agency who have excelled in this effort, and brought innovation to today's personnel security challenges."

The award winners are a part of EPA's Security Management Division, Personnel Security Branch. EPA is responsible for the personnel security of 17,000 Federal Employees, 4,800 contractors and 146 facilities across the country. The EPA award winners initiated a new automated system which resulted in over 600,000 pages of personnel security documentation being digitized, a decreased processing time by 56%, and a 140% increase in case processing capacity.

The 2007 Guardian Award winners are:

• Christopher Bailey
• Wesley Carpenter
• Gerard Connolly
• Gretna Davis
• Kelly Glazier
• Susie Hazen
• Tammy Hester
• Tiye Houston
• Tina Johnson
• William Quarles
• Ed Terry
• Beth Zimmerman

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management conducts about 90% of the background investigations for employees in the Federal Government. OPM established the Guardian Award in 1998 to recognize agencies, components, or programs that lead the way in finding solutions to today's personnel security challenges and needs.