The Office of Personnel Management is going old school.

Late Thursday, OPM ordered all federal agencies to use paper questionnaires for background checks. On Monday, the government's human resources agency temporarily shutdown its electronic system for processing security clearances and background checks on potential government employees and contractors.

For up to six weeks, the Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing, or e-QIP, system is offline after OPM determined that the web-based platform is vulnerable to hacking.

OPM issued the memo on interim procedures with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It allows agencies to continue initiating background investigations for up to secret-level clearances, although the memo states there is no temporary way to handle top-secret levels.

The memo also ordered agencies to retain the paper copies internally and to not forward the questionnaires to OPM. When e-QIP is back online, the applicants will have to re-enter the information into the electronic system.

"Recognizing the impact of the system being down on both users and agencies, OPM...implemented a set of interim procedures to address agencies' requirements and reduce the likelihood of interruptions in the on-boarding of employees while prudently minimizing any security risks," states the memo signed by both OPM Director Katherine Archuleta and National Intelligence Director James Clapper.

In shutting down e-QIP Monday, OPM said: "The actions OPM has taken are not the direct result of malicious activity on this network and there is no evidence that the vulnerability in question has been exploited."

Two massive hacks into OPM's electronic files made public earlier this month compromised the sensitive personnel information of at least 4.2 million current and former federal government workers.

As a result, OPM is reviewing all of its information technology systems and determined that e-QIP could be vulnerable.

OPM employees walked in to the office Thursday morning and discovered they can no longer access personal email and social media accounts. The unannounced move was made due to security concerns, OPM told the Federal Times afterwards.

"Out of caution, and in light of the recent breaches, OPM has recently tightened restrictions on Internet access using web security technology," the Federal Times quoted an OPM spokesman as saying on Thursday.

Last Friday, 17 House Republicans called on President Obama to fire OPM Director Katherine Archuleta and one of her top lieutenants, Donna Seymour, saying the duo is not up to the task of keeping government data secure. On Monday, the largest union of federal workers, the American Federation of Government Employees, filed a class-action lawsuit against OPM, Archuleta, Seymour and OPM's background contractor KeyPoint Government Solutions.