Got my Secret clearance....question....

I was offered a job by a staffing agency a while back, but got denied my interim secret. They went ahead and put me through the process anyway, confident that if they could get me cleared I could make them money

.

So, they called today and told me I was approved for my Secret

What I'm wondering is.....is this clearance tied to that one staffing agency? I never actually went to work for them, so do I have the clearance regardless? Will it transfer to any place I want to work, or would have have to re-apply?

Any insight appreciated!

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Comments

colemic

No it, is not. They might tell you that it is, and they may feel like it is, but they did not grant you the clearance. Depending on your location, I would poke around in your area and see what is available... if anything to give you an idea of what's out there, now that door has been opened up to you.

higherho

xenodamus wrote: »

I was offered a job by a staffing agency a while back, but got denied my interim secret. They went ahead and put me through the process anyway, confident that if they could get me cleared I could make them money .

So, they called today and told me I was approved for my Secret

What I'm wondering is.....is this clearance tied to that one staffing agency? I never actually went to work for them, so do I have the clearance regardless? Will it transfer to any place I want to work, or would have have to re-apply?

Any insight appreciated!

Basically this is how it works. I have my TS and its currently active. Lets say I leave the agency / contractor that I am working for it goes into a non active status. However, if I want to go back and work for the government again all they would have to do is re activate it instead of going through the whole processes again. Only catch to this if a person leaves government with a TS and its inactive for 5 years they have to go through the process again (every 5 years a person with a TS has to go through the SSBI again). Secret is 10 years I believe.

So no if you leave and come back in the short term you will still have a clearance its just not active.

Also you said you got denied first for your interim secret.Sometimes you can go through again and they might be lenient on something or they looked to deep into something that really does not matter as much with just a secret level. However, it might bite you later if you go for a TS or higher.

Devilsbane

It isn't tied. Many people "luck out" because they went into the military after HS where they got a clearance. Now that they are out in the real world they can leverage that in their job search.

eansdad

I'm almost positive it is 2 years inactive means you need a new clearence. Rules could have changed as I haven't had a job that needed a clearence in 6 years.

xenodamus

Good to know. Thanks for all the responses.

I may go cruise the job boards just out of curiosity, but I'm not really even looking to leave my current position. That agency actually just called me out of the blue to start with. I did read the same thing about 2 years of inactivity. Maybe I'll put it to use before then....we'll see.

CodeBlox

I have a question. If a person was sponsored by an agency that got them the job for their TS, could they bind that person to a contract stating they are required to work for them for [x number] of years? If the person decided they didn't want to work there anymore and quit, what would happen?

xenodamus

I've wondered that as well. I did agree to their terms of employment before the process began, and I wonder if it included an item like that. I may have overlooked it.

On another note - Is it true that unless you are applying for a job that requires a clearance, you shouldn't list it on your resume? I read somewhere that you shouldn't broadcast the fact that you have it.

CodeBlox

Yeah, I had something along those lines in some documents. You could become a potential target for foreign agencies to gain access to classified information. That was one of the reasons.

afcyung

CodeBlox wrote: »

I have a question. If a person was sponsored by an agency that got them the job for their TS, could they bind that person to a contract stating they are required to work for them for [x number] of years? If the person decided they didn't want to work there anymore and quit, what would happen?

Well considering a TS is can cost 10s of thousands of dollars for the Office of personal management to conduct an SSBI. A guy has to interview tons of people potentially scattered all over the country. The OPM probably bills the contractor for the costs of the investigation. I would assume that they want to get their money worth. I would imagine that they would just bill you for the cost of the SSBI if you left before your contract expired.

N2IT

higherho wrote: »

Basically this is how it works. I have my TS and its currently active. Lets say I leave the agency / contractor that I am working for it goes into a non active status. However, if I want to go back and work for the government again all they would have to do is re activate it instead of going through the whole processes again. Only catch to this if a person leaves government with a TS and its inactive for 5 years they have to go through the process again (every 5 years a person with a TS has to go through the SSBI again). Secret is 10 years I believe.

So no if you leave and come back in the short term you will still have a clearance its just not active.

Also you said you got denied first for your interim secret.Sometimes you can go through again and they might be lenient on something or they looked to deep into something that really does not matter as much with just a secret level. However, it might bite you later if you go for a TS or higher.

Great post spoke like someone who understands the system.

I had a charge on my record back when I was 19 and it still comes up. I no longer work for the DoD, but I still technically have my security clearance. At least for 1 more year anyway. But you are correct if you had trouble getting a secret or it delayed like that, getting a TS will be even harder.

I also have a public trust clearance. I just received that about 2 years ago. How long does that last?

afcyung

I wouldn't worry about being denied an interim. Its a temporary clearance that you are given while they finish the investigation and await adjudication. I have seen some Commanders not give them out to contractors/civilians because the vetting process to hire them is a lot less stringent than an Active Duty accession.

j_griffith

For your general resume, put "DoD" or "Public Trust Clearable". For targeted resume' state your clearance as cited in the job posting/announcement where yours is equal or higher or put DoD secret clearable.

Second, The company that sponsored your clearance against a job "billet" currently "manages it". To use it for another company, they will need to release or transfer management control. A new company can apply to the governing Central Clearance Facility to force the transfer, but it may take longer (months) and additional paper work (further delays). In either case it has remained "inactive" since issued, but will be able to be "activated" for up to 10 years from initial issue.

J.

MrAgent

For a TS, you have to reinvestigate every 5 years. Period. It can remain inactive for up to 2 years if you arent using it.