TS/SCI Security Clearance

Couple questions regarding this clearance, does it really take 4 months to get? (120 days)?

Does it cost anything?

What if the job I want no longer is open?

Would i have a better chance of getting a job w/ a TS/SCI security clearance?

Also what if i don't remember every job I have had in the past 7 years and i miss a day or two (or month) would that deny me access? If i had this information, i'm pretty confident that I could obtain clearance...

also the job i want to apply for says the candidate must have an active clearance, does this mean the company is being cheap, does it really cost someone 3k?

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Comments

jvrlopez

1) You better bet that it cost something. An investigation is opened on your past activities over the last 10 years, to include employment, criminal, credit, lifestyle, and any foreign ties you may have. References are also consulted. Investigators from all over the country will track down leads and interview them. The cost can range anywhere from $3000 to $15000 and if you are in a contract position, this is fronted by your company. Government and military members have the cost met by the federal government.

2) Depending on how thorough you answer the questionnaire and how many jobs, residences you've had, schools attended, and your criminal and credit history, it can take many months to complete. Clearances are going slow at the moment due to all the sequestration and budget matters impacting work hours and manning levels of investigators.

When I first joined the Air Force at age 20, I had no credit or criminal history, had only lived at 1 address for my entire life, had 2 jobs, and attended high school and one college. I also listed references from the same city as me. It still took from February to July of that year to complete. My most recent investigation was opened in March and is still ongoing.

3) If the job you want is no longer open, you won't be considered or sponsored for a clearance given the investment it entails. I've seen qualified people passed over for a position because they had no clearance and under-skilled people brought on board due to them simply having the required clearance.

4) Yes, a TS/SCI will be a biiiig advantage in the hiring process. Because of this, I have it listed as the first real line in my resume when applying with DoD and federal positions. Most companies don't like to front the bill for an investigation or reinvestigation, so someone with a clearance will stick out due to them having the potential to save the time and hassle. Like I said before, I've seen people hired on that basis (along with perhaps the appearance of the ability to learn or be trained on the job) over people who were a perfect match but had no clearance.

5) The investigators weren't born yesterday and will notice any gaps in your employment/residence history, so try your best to remember everything. If not, during your interview, make it a point to make the investigator aware as to the gap and why you are not knowledgeable as to why you can't account for it.

The best thing to do is be honest and up front. Any inclination or suspicion they may have of you lying or trying to mislead them will not work in your favor at all.

Edit: And yes, if a job listing says "active" security clearance, that means you must already have an approved investigation/clearance of the appropriate level to your name. It basically means they are not interested in funding the investigation/reinvestigation of someone who's clearance has expired or someone who never had one.

joeypants05

From what I've seen a company will post active clearance or eligible to receive one if they are willing to go through the process with you. Those postings seem to be fairly uncommon though as the company has to go out on a limb that you can pass a clearance and if you'd fail then they'd be out of money and would have an employee that doesn't have the necessary requirements to fulfill the job that they were hired to do.

Bokeh

I agree with jvrlopez. When I was in the Air Force (although many moons ago) I applied for my TS in Sept while in basic. My assignment needed TS/SCI, so they started that in Oct, and it finally came through in June after I had been at my first assignment 6 months. I had all my I's dotted, T's crossed down to the exact addresses of everything. I think my first renewal took 6 months.

Yes, it is worth big $$$ to a company. Just getting it in the first place can be a hassle, thats why most of these DoD contractors jump all over recently ex military with active clearances.

Codyy

You talk like 4 months is a long time, 4 months will be if you're lucky. I was 23 when mine cleared so being young I didn't have much for them to research, it still took them 3 months. It can take up to a year or so depending on how much you've done in your life(criminal record, jobs, addresses, etc). Younger the better for sure.

MrAgent

Just to clarify, it does not cost the company any money. Where the costs come in is the time and travel of the investigation.

It’s true that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which conducts over 90% of all federal security clearance investigations, conducts these investigations on a fee-for-service basis. However, almost all of these investigations are paid for by other government agencies. Less than 1% of the contractors who have their clearance investigations done by OPM pay for the investigations. There are no Department of Defense (DoD) contractors that pay for clearance investigations done by OPM. The Defense Security Service (DSS) uses appropriated funds to pay OPM for the clearance investigations of DoD contractors, as well as the contractors of 23 other federal agencies that participate in the National Industrial Security Program. In FY2010 DSS paid OPM $218 million for Personnel Security Investigations for contractor personnel.

How Much Does It Really Cost to Get a Security Clearance?

puertorico1985

4 month turnaround would be great. I am currently awaiting for my process to finish, which started in October of last year. Yes, over one year. I blame it on the sequestration, and the like. I am waiting in the hopes that it will open up many doors for me down the road.

CCNTrainee

I joined in Feb 09, didn't start the interview part until I was a month in my tech school <May> and didn't get until I was at my first duty station for a bit, <Oct 2009>... Getting it in 4 months will be lucky on your part...

Verities

I used to initiate the investigations for my command personnel when I was still active duty so here is what's based on my experience; SSBIs can take anywhere between 6-18 months. NACLCs can take anywhere between 3-6 months. Both costs money due to all the manpower involved, background investigator, processing the paperwork, etc. Keep in mind the government furloughs do slow down the process. Security clearances are advantageous in any field as you have more opportunities (i.e. you can work on government contracts) and there are websites dedicated to cleared personnel (clearancejobs.com being one of them).

Disclaimer: Do not sign up for referenced website if you don't have a clearance, you can and will get into a big pile of doo doo.

@MrAgent - awesome link!

bill5

gbdavidx wrote: »

Does it cost anything?

It costs a great deal, and no offense but "MrAgent" left this part out from the link: "This does not mean that federal contractors get security clearances for free. They incur costs associated with the time required to process and maintain security clearances...."

In other words, yes, it costs them, which is why jobs requiring a clearance much prefer to find someone who already has a clearance. That article's opening was misleading.

What if the job I want no longer is open?

? Then clearly you're not getting it.

Would i have a better chance of getting a job w/ a TS/SCI security clearance?

Only if it requires (or might in the future require) a clearance. It serves little advantage otherwise, other than in a general "I'm not a pyscho/thug" assurance kind of way.

Also what if i don't remember every job I have had in the past 7 years and i miss a day or two (or month) would that deny me access?

There's a very real chance of it, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily a "deal killer," depending on the specifics. Honestly this is something everyone should keep track of anyway (for resumes etc).

also the job i want to apply for says the candidate must have an active clearance, does this mean the company is being cheap

lol - wanting to save money isn't necessarily "being cheap" but honestly, does it matter? If you need it, you need it. g/l

lsud00d

You can get to work almost right away if granted an interim clearance.

Valsacar

lsud00d wrote: »

You can get to work almost right away if granted an interim clearance.

That depends on the work, there are many jobs that require a final clearance.

tprice5

I really don't know who to believe in this argument. I have heard that it is an astronomical cost like $15,000 and I've heard that it doesn't cost more than $500. I'm kind of thinking the $15,000.00 is just the man hours required to complete the investigation multipled by the staffers salary. If that's the case then that individual would likely be getting paid regadless of whether the clearance request came up or not. Obiously the governement is not setting a flat rate and extorting contracting companies so it seems like man hours is the only feasible expense.

CCNTrainee

^^ Well it depends on the person they are interviewing and the places they need to go for interviews. Who ever they talk too, they will talk to more people if other names are dropped. Not to mention getting a TS/SCI is not the same as getting just a Secert or even a Regular TS, there will be more to the process since they will be digging deeper into you and might even requiring a Poly test for certain assigments, which will only add the total cost. If I remember correctly, there are 3 different domains when it comes to TS, SCI being the highest.

If you want a straight answer you can always ask an Agent how much they cost...

tprice5

So I just got finger printed for my TS SSBI about 30 minutes ago. Complete coincdence that I was just talking to you guys about it. I knew other people in my organization were getting theirs upgraded but I thought since I was so new that I would have to wait awhile. Not so. As CCNTrainee suggested I flat out asked how much these cost and he replied about $1500. Keep in mind that this wasn't an actual federal investigator but someone at my company in charge of handling our clearances. So take it how you will. I just thought it was really strange that we were just talking about this and not two hours later my HR rep walks by my desk and asks if I'm ready to go do finger prints.

SephStorm

I just want to say that on my last 86 it had the month and year on the form, not the day, they understand if you can't remember the exact date something occurred. Just be open and honest about it if asked. My form was agency specific however, it may be different for someone else.

the_Grinch

If you Google the SF-86 you can see what's asked as that is the form used. That being said, some agencies don't use it and some do. When I was with ICE, we used the SF-86, but via e-QIP. I liked this a lot because it allows you to print off everything along with re-using it for other agencies so you'll have your dates forever. Cost is going to be relative to a number of things. Level of clearance, number of places you have lived, number of jobs you've had, etc. That will then impact how long it takes them to clear you. Generally speaking, three to eighteen months in the norm. I've known a number of military members who went civilian and it took theirs forever due to being stationed out of the country (obviously, their clearance had run out).

When I was going for my TS/SCI with SSBI it actually only took four months. But I literally lived in two homes and was away at college for only a year (plus it was 30 minutes from my house). My investigator loved me as he had very little leg work to do and I had all my ducks in a row. My latest background investigation only took a month and again my investigator loved me. If you want to impress them and makes things easy, get every form they request and then place it in a binder with the sections marked off. My investigator said he normally had to make three to five phone calls to people he was investigating. Beyond the call introducing himself, he never had to call me again.

Qord

gbdavidx wrote: »

does it really take 4 months to get? (120 days)?

When I was active duty, mine took about 18 months to process.

cruwl

thought I would Chime in a little bit, having a TS/SCI with SSBI is pretty much worthless if you live some where with an almost 0 DoD work force. Only place around here that needs one is my old employer. So my TS is in-active for another year before its closed.

So if there isnt a large DoD work force, or you dont plan on moving to where one is its pretty much a worth less thing.

jvrlopez

I got lucky in that my hometown is San Antonio.

Tons of contracting jobs for DoD.

There's also the DMV area which I won't entertain given my experience being stationed there.

Bigmacattack7

If you live in an area that is very DoD or military heavy then yes, it definitely increases your opportunities. There aren't enough people with clearances to cover the amount of jobs open, DC area especially. It also can increase your salary sometimes up to 20k. The rub is, it isn't easy actually getting someone to put you through the process. Like someone said earlier, you could obtain an interim (usually only for Secret or lower) and start work right away. If you have lived outside of the country or you can't remember or document all of the places you have lived it can take waaaay longer than someone who has been very stationary. Your best chance is to look at the top 5 government contractors (General Dynamics, Lockheed, CSC, etc) for an opportunity they are having a hard time filling.

missy2014

I have a question pertaining to security clearances. I met a gut online 2 years ago who I didn't know was married. We lived together for about a year during which time I found out he was married. He claims to work part time at a"lab" doing contract work for the DOD. He goes away with his work several times a month. I've never seen any evidence of this job and he acts very suspicious. When he goes to the "lab" or flies out to a military base we have no contact until he gets back home. His wife divorced him when she found out about him seeing me but she knew nothing about his suppossed clearance job. She says there is no "lab". Is it possible he's lying about this job? He claimed he couldn't get divorced because he would lose his clearances.

Bokeh

Sounds like his "lab" is another woman.

missy2014

It seems to me that may be possible. I want to check it out but if he's telling the truth I don't want to get him in trouble. Its very weird that I've never met his family. He claims to have a TS1+ clearance but apparently I'm not allowed to know where the "lab" is

zxbane

Lol, I just want to say that is a very interesting situation. Also, there is no truth or logical reason that anyone would lose their clearance for getting divorced that I know of, unless there is more to it. Sounds like an excuse to try and keep both women at the same time.

Anyways, I would be real skeptical of the whole lab situation, especially with the part about not being able to contact you the entire time he is there. Very unrealistic.

MrAgent

If you have a lifestyle poly then getting a divorce does matter. It matters because it could put you in in major debt and if divorcing because of a cheating spouse that means you aren't exactly moral. There's a whole lot of information out there about lifestyle polys.

zxbane

MrAgent,

Those are very valid points, I guess since I have never been married nor divorced I never really thought about that. With that said though the situation the poster described without a doubt sounds very suspect in my opinion.

MrAgent

Yeah I suspect he's not telling the truth, which can be expected since he lied to both parties. I've also never heard of a TS1+ clearance.

colemic

It's a step below G-14 classified: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNhDEop5I8k

While there is a possibility that he is telling the truth, I wouldn't play the odds.

Very unusual that it would be part time. Even more suspicious if he does it only on weekends. What's his day job?

I don't understand - if he couldn't get divorced because he would lose his clearances, how is he still working there after his wife divorced him?

If you've been living together for a year, check his bank account balances - if he only has one direct deposit (from his day job?) then obviously he's not working part-time for a secret government agency.

Khaos1911

smh@ TechExams turning into Cockblockers Anonymous.

missy2014

Well he says that he's not allowed to take his phone inside because its a top secret facility.. It all just seems odd that he goes out of state and yet he doesn't get paid a lot and what he gets paid it all goes into retirement fund.