Thread: Security Clearance Question

So is there any way to find out if you have a current Security Clearance? Thanks...

You do not have a security clearance until you are hired and when you are no longer working you no longer have it. Proper answer for you is no.

ATF SAC is right on....security clearances are specific to the agency or bureau that you work for. You cannot hold a security clearance indepedent of a job. Every agency has security protocols, and will either conduct their own investigation, or defer to the FBI or OPM in clearing the potential candidate.

The only item that is a common denominator for all agencies is the SF-86 questionairre required for all sensitive positions with clearance requirements. If you receive an offer for a job that has clearance requirements, you will become very familar with this form....

About a year ago the head of the OPM was attempting to overhaul the security clearance process, and completely consolidate it under the OPM. Under her vision, the process could be completed, either favorably or unfavorably, in three months. Unfortunately that plan met with political resisitance, and she subsequently stepped down from that post. It has been the only time in recent memory that someone has talked about fixing what seems to be a bureacratically slow process, and a quite painful one for applicants.

ATF SAC is 100% correct (as usual) for civilian jobs. The military is a little different...

I got off of active duty back in August 2005. As an officer, I not only have a long obligation in the Inactive Ready Reserve (until 2011 if I'm not mistaken), but I've been told by the IRR people that unless I resign my commission, I will remain in the IRR forever. Subsequently, my Secret clearance - which all commissioned officers in the Navy hold as a minimum - is still active. I contacted DSS (Defense Security Service, not the other DSS) to find out if it was active, and it was explained to me that as a commissioned officer, I will have a clearance until it expires (10 years from the date of issue for a Secret clearance) or until I resign my commission (after my Inactive obligation is over). That being said, I have yet to find a non-DOD agency that accepts my DOD clearance... so I might as well not have it.

Hope this makes it clear as mud!

Got it, thanks for the quick help.

Originally Posted by navy03

I have yet to find a non-DOD agency that accepts my DOD clearance... so I might as well not have it.

I'm not sure what you mean here. If you have a clearance as a naval officer, that clearance should be honored (following verification) wherever you need to use it in an official capacity. I've worked on two non-DOD task forces with USN and other military branch officers whose clearances were accepted with nary a problem. If the non-DOD agencies who were hosting weren't accepting the clearances, I have no idea how they were able to participate (both involved classified material).

If you mean no one will accept your DOD clearance in the job application context, that's true for everyone, DOD or otherwise. Every time you undertake a new position within the government a new BI will take place and a new clearance issued. Clearances won't follow you from position to position or agency to agency.

LA -

You're right, and I should have been more detailed in my posting about different uses for a clearance. In working in your official capacity, your clearance should be used without a problem. In a job application context, I've never had my DOD clearance utilized... however, I've been asked on every interview for a job that needed a clearance about whether or not I currently had an active security clearance. I've always wondered why they wanted to know if I had an active clearance is it wasn't going to be utilized. (I understand the need to conduct the suitability investigation as well as a clearance investigation while conducting the BI).

During the hiring process for the FBI, I was asked if I had an active security clearance and what level it was. My DOD clearance was the exact same clearance that I will have in the FBI as a SA. The background investigator and the national security interview investigator all felt that it would defiantly help speed up the process because it was adjudicated within the past 2 years. Having gone through the investigation once before I knew the problems that the investigators had in my past investigation and I had a copy of my old SF86 which helped me get the new SF86 filled out in a few hours.

I though I had read on this forum that the President had singed a bill saying that all clearances should recognized government wide. Of course there will be exceptions; NSA, CIA, etc…..

Originally Posted by bike123

I though I had read on this forum that the President had singed a bill saying that all clearances should recognized government wide. Of course there will be exceptions; NSA, CIA, etc…..

President Clinton issued Executive Order 12968 in 1995, which ..."provides for common investigative and adjudicative standards to improve clearance reciprocity." Yeah, whatever. I had 3 separate complete background investigations and separate clearances issued (albeit for separate, consecutive jobs) by State, Treasury, and then ICE--all within 5 years. Of course, as someone in this forum mentioned, while I had those various jobs my clearance was passed ("certified") to other agencies for meetings, TDYs, etc--not the same as being granted a new clearance though.

The bottom line seems to be that the common standards have been established but agencies have not enacted any implementing regulations.

You can get view the E.O. here if you're interested:
http://www.hanford.gov/oci/maindocs/...cs/eo12968.pdf

Originally Posted by navy03

I've always wondered why they wanted to know if I had an active clearance is it wasn't going to be utilized.

Navy, as was stated above, they'll ask you that because your possession of a security clearance tells them that you've already had a successful adjudication. It shouldn't matter one way or another in terms of getting hired, but it does tell the agency that you'd likely pass an initial BI and later a clearance BI, the first of which is where agencies lose a lot of otherwise good candidates. It fills them with a sense of confidence and it may very well speed things up down the road, as was mentioned.

EDIT: One more note--if memory serves, we've discussed this whole "reciprocity" joke on here before. A search may turn up additional info for those interested.

We have indeed LA. Short form, there have been instances where agencies have sought to do additional clearances on persons cleared to the appropriate level by their home agency. That is primarily what the EO addresses. Secondly the EO is full of loopholes. Third, your clearance and suitability investigation are done together and agencies are going to do suitability anyway.

You are not cleared until you are issued the clearance (with hiring) which will be followed by training in what you are to do with material. The BI establishes that you are suitable to be employed by the agency and suitable to be cleared by the agency to the level appropriate. The actual hiring and clearance come later.