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Re: Educattion+Sponsorship+payment may lead to a Security Clearance
________WALL OF TEXT WARNING______________
There seems to be a good bit of confusion over clearances in here and some very valid information being passed around. I am going to attempt to explain a good portion of what I know based on ... well you get the idea. I have only been on the receiving end, but have worked closely with a good portion of the clearance process.
For all clearances Honesty is the number one thing that the investigators are looking for.. that pot you smoked in high school, they don't care about it but if you say you have never smoked marijuana and then they talk to a friend who calls you a pot head in high school but you cleaned up your act then you will be denied. There is even a new section on the SF86 form that details accessing a computer network that is not yours.. just be honest.
The next entry for being granted a clearance is anything in your past that can be used to gain leverage over you, bankruptcy, bad finances, affairs, addictions, of the continued foreign contacts (such as family living in a foreign country) can all be reasons to prevent you from receiving a clearance. Keep in mind that these can be used to prevent you being granted a clearance but they do not necessarily prevent you if they can be explained away in your interview.
I will go though the different clearance types (all of this is available on Wikipedia so none of this is classified)
SBU or Confidential: not technically a clearance because all you are accessing is non classified information such as Personally Identifiable Information. This is a minimal background investigation which will do a credit check, criminal background investigation, and verify the validity of the information you provide on your clearance paperwork. This is the lowest on the totem pole when discussing any type of sensitive information.
Secret Clearance: is a 7 year background investigation that covers everything included in the SBU or confidential clearance and will also include an in depth records search, a background investigation on your immediate family members, foreign contact/travel research, a more in depth analysis of your financial history (to verify you spend what you make and not an exceptional amount more). It will also look into past companies you have worked for, known associates that may have a criminal history, and for any avenue of exploit that can be used on the individual to get them to provide information if pushed.
The Top Secret Clearance is the highest clearance you can receive in the united states federal government (I do not believe I can go into detail on the investigation so I will not) I will say that it includes the secret clearance plus an additional 3 years (for a total of 10 years) and it goes more in depth.
I am sure most people have heard of a TS/SCI (aka Top Secret/ Special Compartmentalized Information) or a TS/Life Style full scope Poly or a Yankee White Clearance and any other "special" clearance. These are still only Top Secret Clearances with special considerations or with "endorsement" like you would find on a drivers license. These just allow special access to certain areas but at the end of the day they are still a Top Secret Clearance.
To answer a question at the beginning of the post. No single person can ask for, be granted, nor pay for a clearance themselves. They must be sponsored by a company that requires special access to information that is protected by the clearance process. Your contract or Government position will clearly state that you are required to have a clearance in place. The contractor or the federal government will then pay for and process the clearance by inputting the appropriate paperwork (every agency has a different process for initiating a clearance and the contractor conforms to the agency they have a contract with to endorse the clearance. Once the paperwork is submitted you are put into a repository/database of clearance individuals and your clearance is maintained by an employer until you either lose the job you require special access to or it will be picked up by a new employer. Once you are granted a clearance you are required to go though periodic review to ensure you are maintaining the lifestyle appropriate with keeping your clearance (foreclosures and other financial troubles, foreign travel and things of this nature will be taken into consideration as well as a refresh of your background investigation to ensure no arrest record and other things of this nature are still in place.)
I cannot state whether someone would be granted a clearance based on their background because I do not know the full scope of the situations surrounding the incident so please do not PM me asking me if this or that will get by a clearance. My advise is to live as clean as you can, and do not lie on your background paperwork. The number one reason I have seen people denied for clearances were for lying on their paperwork. The number 2 reason is attempting to cover up a criminal history and the number 3 reason is financial hardships.
The last thing I will say is that a clearance is a lifetime commitment. You are required to keep anything that you learn in a classified environment secret for as long as you live. Period no exceptions. Even if the information is declassified it doesn't mean you can go into detail about how much you know nor can you discuss that you even know the information before it becomes declassified. There are other bits to it but I'll leave it to the ones who have clearances or the ones who get them to find out as they go along.
_____
another question posed was whether you can DOS the clearance process and the answer is no.. simply because it is a dynamic process that if there are an over abundance of applicants they can increase the number of adjudicators/investigators and increase the size of the process. Theoretically it can handle as many as the system can throw at it.
I hope this clears come things up!
Hexjunkie
________WALL OF TEXT WARNING______________
There seems to be a good bit of confusion over clearances in here and some very valid information being passed around. I am going to attempt to explain a good portion of what I know based on ... well you get the idea. I have only been on the receiving end, but have worked closely with a good portion of the clearance process.
For all clearances Honesty is the number one thing that the investigators are looking for.. that pot you smoked in high school, they don't care about it but if you say you have never smoked marijuana and then they talk to a friend who calls you a pot head in high school but you cleaned up your act then you will be denied. There is even a new section on the SF86 form that details accessing a computer network that is not yours.. just be honest.
The next entry for being granted a clearance is anything in your past that can be used to gain leverage over you, bankruptcy, bad finances, affairs, addictions, of the continued foreign contacts (such as family living in a foreign country) can all be reasons to prevent you from receiving a clearance. Keep in mind that these can be used to prevent you being granted a clearance but they do not necessarily prevent you if they can be explained away in your interview.
I will go though the different clearance types (all of this is available on Wikipedia so none of this is classified)
SBU or Confidential: not technically a clearance because all you are accessing is non classified information such as Personally Identifiable Information. This is a minimal background investigation which will do a credit check, criminal background investigation, and verify the validity of the information you provide on your clearance paperwork. This is the lowest on the totem pole when discussing any type of sensitive information.
Secret Clearance: is a 7 year background investigation that covers everything included in the SBU or confidential clearance and will also include an in depth records search, a background investigation on your immediate family members, foreign contact/travel research, a more in depth analysis of your financial history (to verify you spend what you make and not an exceptional amount more). It will also look into past companies you have worked for, known associates that may have a criminal history, and for any avenue of exploit that can be used on the individual to get them to provide information if pushed.
The Top Secret Clearance is the highest clearance you can receive in the united states federal government (I do not believe I can go into detail on the investigation so I will not) I will say that it includes the secret clearance plus an additional 3 years (for a total of 10 years) and it goes more in depth.
I am sure most people have heard of a TS/SCI (aka Top Secret/ Special Compartmentalized Information) or a TS/Life Style full scope Poly or a Yankee White Clearance and any other "special" clearance. These are still only Top Secret Clearances with special considerations or with "endorsement" like you would find on a drivers license. These just allow special access to certain areas but at the end of the day they are still a Top Secret Clearance.
To answer a question at the beginning of the post. No single person can ask for, be granted, nor pay for a clearance themselves. They must be sponsored by a company that requires special access to information that is protected by the clearance process. Your contract or Government position will clearly state that you are required to have a clearance in place. The contractor or the federal government will then pay for and process the clearance by inputting the appropriate paperwork (every agency has a different process for initiating a clearance and the contractor conforms to the agency they have a contract with to endorse the clearance. Once the paperwork is submitted you are put into a repository/database of clearance individuals and your clearance is maintained by an employer until you either lose the job you require special access to or it will be picked up by a new employer. Once you are granted a clearance you are required to go though periodic review to ensure you are maintaining the lifestyle appropriate with keeping your clearance (foreclosures and other financial troubles, foreign travel and things of this nature will be taken into consideration as well as a refresh of your background investigation to ensure no arrest record and other things of this nature are still in place.)
I cannot state whether someone would be granted a clearance based on their background because I do not know the full scope of the situations surrounding the incident so please do not PM me asking me if this or that will get by a clearance. My advise is to live as clean as you can, and do not lie on your background paperwork. The number one reason I have seen people denied for clearances were for lying on their paperwork. The number 2 reason is attempting to cover up a criminal history and the number 3 reason is financial hardships.
The last thing I will say is that a clearance is a lifetime commitment. You are required to keep anything that you learn in a classified environment secret for as long as you live. Period no exceptions. Even if the information is declassified it doesn't mean you can go into detail about how much you know nor can you discuss that you even know the information before it becomes declassified. There are other bits to it but I'll leave it to the ones who have clearances or the ones who get them to find out as they go along.
_____
another question posed was whether you can DOS the clearance process and the answer is no.. simply because it is a dynamic process that if there are an over abundance of applicants they can increase the number of adjudicators/investigators and increase the size of the process. Theoretically it can handle as many as the system can throw at it.
I hope this clears come things up!
Hexjunkie
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