The report presents a scathing review of the Navy Commercial Access Control System. | REUTERS Audit finds Navy security flaws

A Pentagon audit of Navy security systems found major flaws that allowed 52 convicted felons onto naval installations, but the systems reviewed in the report could not have stopped Monday’s attack at the Washington Navy Yard that left 13 people dead, a Navy official said.

The audit, released Tuesday, presents a scathing review of the Navy Commercial Access Control System, which is used to perform background checks and provide credentials to contractors requiring routine access to naval installations.


But the man identified as the gunman in Monday’s attack, Aaron Alexis, had access to the Navy Yard though a separate system, receiving a secret security clearance in 2007 from the Defense Security Service, according to Thomas Hoshko, CEO of The Experts, the South Florida-based subcontractor that employed Alexis at the time of the shooting.

( PHOTOS: Shooting at Navy Yard)

Alexis went through another drug test and background investigation in July and was issued a Common Access Card, Hoshko said. The Common Access Cards — for service members, civilian employees, and contractors — allow physical access to buildings and controlled spaces, according to the military.

The Navy Commercial Access Control System is a separate system “for contractors not authorized a Common Access Card,” according to the audit, initiated last fall by the Defense Department inspector general.

“You shouldn’t draw a direct correlation between the report and Alexis’s ability to get on the base yesterday,” a Navy official told POLITICO, requesting not to be identified to discuss the sensitive issue. “It’s two separate systems.”

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The audit, excerpts of which were leaked to Time magazine and other publications, set off a media firestorm on Tuesday and fueled speculation Alexis might have been allowed onto the Navy Yard because of lax security procedures or spending cuts. But the complete report, released Tuesday afternoon by the Inspector General’s office, makes clear it was focusing on a specific system that was not used by Alexis.

The Navy Commercial Access Control System, according to the audit, is run by the Oregon-based contractor Eid Passport, which did not respond to a request for comment. The company’s background checks, performed by third-party vendors, are based on “unreliable” public records, the audit says, and some contractors were able to access naval installations without being vetted through the National Crime Information Center or the Terrorist Screening Database.

“As a result,” the audit says, “52 convicted felons received routine, unauthorized installation access, placing military personnel, dependents, civilians and installations at an increased security risk.”

( Also on POLITICO: Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis's clearance draws scrutiny)

One contractor had access to a naval installation for more than 1,000 days before a felony conviction was identified through a background check through the system, the audit says.

Rep. Mike Turner, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, said the audit raises “serious concerns for the safety and security of military and civilian personnel located on Navy installations in the United States.”

The Ohio Republican, who was briefed on Tuesday by Defense Department Acting Inspector General Lynne Halbrooks and her staff, acknowledged “there may not be a direct link between the result of this report” and Monday’s “horrific loss of life.”

Still, he said, “It is unacceptable that the Navy has granted installation access to individuals without performing thorough and complete background checks.”

( WATCH: Witnesses describe confusion at Navy Yard shooting)

Earlier on Tuesday, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon urged the Inspector General’s office to release the audit.

“While the timing of the delivery of this report was coincidental, I believe it to be relevant to physical security on military installations and to the committee’s hearing tomorrow on the impact of defense cuts,” the California Republican said in a statement.

An aide to the committee said staffers began making calls on Tuesday morning to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Inspector General’s office, “cautioning them it was important to get this redacted report out as quickly as possible.”

“A lot of the early reporting on the report was driving the conversation in a way that was not accurate,” said the aide, speaking on the condition of not being identified.