Groton — The Navy has approved Electric Boat's request to allow personnel awaiting initial security clearances to work in more areas and phases of submarine construction. The request was prompted by a backlog of federal background investigations, which hit 500,000 in September 2016, that has slowed hiring at EB and other defense contractors.

"These actions are allowing Electric Boat to initiate the on-boarding and initial training processes for new hires in a more flexible and timely manner while ensuring that the required security restrictions remain in place," Bill Couch, a spokesman with Naval Sea Systems Command, said in an email.

As of the beginning of June, more than 600 new hires at EB were awaiting an interim security clearance, and nearly 700 new hires had an interim clearance and were awaiting the completion of a background investigation.

To offset the slowdown in the clearance process, EB has worked to reduce the time it takes to hire someone from 163 days to 60 days. That's the time between when people apply and when they receive an offer from the company. The goal is to get that number down to 45 days.

— Julia Bergman