Potential job I interviewed for requires a security clearance

[undeterred]

because they do business with the DOD. Its an insurance company.

Does anyone know what they look for?

[jeff30997]

1. If you ate us for our freedom for example.

:evilgrin:

[progressivebydesign]

28. typo or Freudian slip? Either way.. hilarious. n/t

[jeff30997]

38. Neither.English is not my native language.

[undeterred]

34. Like Monica ate Bill?

:evilgrin:

[Burma Jones]

2. Yes, here, go and look

http://www.dss.mil/epsq/

[havocmom]

Drugs, convictions/arrests, hanging out with undesirables

like all of us here :evilgrin:

[Loonman]

3. Anything and everything

Court records from every state you've been in, if you have any, will be looked at, and they'll probably run your name through NCIS.

[undeterred]

6. Do they care about your credit and or political affiliations?

[Burma Jones]

8. Credit is Huge

[MADem]

12. If it is anything other than an Entrance NAC (a paperwork clearance)

they will interview your neighbors. I'm guessing it will be a paper drill for the equivalent of a 'confidential' clearance, based on your description of the work you do, unless something icky turns up.

They never USED to care about political affiliations--communist party excepted, of course (from the McCarty era). Of course, with the IRS grabbing up that sort of info, all bets are off, nowadays....

[meegbear]

4. Have you ever applied for al Qaeda?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2039132&mesg_id=2039132

[ugarte]

5. Have you ever posted on DemocraticUnderground?

:)

[undeterred]

9. I've made some wonderful posts that I'm proud of

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x4577635

[Burma Jones]

7. It Depends

If it's low level, probably just a Criminal Records Check and a Credit report. The Credit Report is BIG. You fill out an extensive form, an electronic version I gave you the link for is above.

If you move onto Higher Clearance levels, the form will be dredged up and you will be polygraphed to confirm your truthful answers.

[undeterred]

10. its an IT job

so they presume I would have access to information even though I'm not working directly with it. My credit sucks because I've had several periods of unemployment during the Bush administration. They could refuse me a security clearance for that?

[Burma Jones]

20. Yep

The Biggest thing they're looking for is potential for selling Government Information. So, they see how you've handled your money. They are mostly concerned with Bankruptcy, Foreclosures and Reposessions. But, if you want to satisfy your curiousity, go to the llink I gave you and see what you will have to provide.

[undeterred]

23. I can't download anything from there- so I can't see the form

Do you know if they go back 7 years or 10?

[Burma Jones]

31. Seven in my case.......

[Burma Jones]

32. Try this - the SF86

http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF86.pdf

[undeterred]

35. Thanks.

[hack89]

37. Be honest..

what trips people up is lying and being found out. Even casual drug use in the past is OK as long as you are honest when they ask.

[babylonsister]

11. I had one years ago. The one thing I remember is that they wanted

to know every address I'd had going back at least 20 years. I-ahem-moved around a lot in my youth so that was nigh on impossible to do. I did the best I could and got the clearance. You have to name names of neighbors, relatives, etc., and they reserve the right to question anyone. I imagine a drug test would be included, depending on the type of job you're looking for. And I do believe you had to provide banking and credit info. The application made me crazy!

[undeterred]

13. Its creeping me out and they haven't even offerred me the job yet

They do a regular background check just to get you in the door- No problem, I always pass those. But I've never had something like this... its making me wonder if I should just look for a different job.

[babylonsister]

16. Are the pay and bennies good? Go for it! If you have the option of

looking for a different job, what have you got to lose?
And good luck!

[DancingBear]

14. I worked for a DoD sub-contractor years ago

The clearance forms themselves (there were two sets) were each about 20 pages long.

I recall they asked for complete educational history, complete job history (very detailed), contact people, references, complete credit history, detailed housing history (where, how long, rent/own), etc.

At that time, the backlog to get clearance was almost a year - I have no idea what it is now.

Trust me, the guys with the black suits WILL visit your references, and they WILL visit your previous employers, and they WILL question them. At length. So tell the truth on the apps. :)

I quit the company (man, you want to talk paranoia - try working for a company owned by ex CIA "upper level" folks) because I really couldn't deal with the nuts that worked there. They were very big on Jesus screen savers - I do remember that.

Anyway, the Clearance folks were just starting to interview my childhood(!) acquaintances when I gave my notice after 10 months.

[DBoon]

15. I went through this for a "secret" clearance

Not much worse than a very thorough private sector pre-employment background check - they want criminal history, civil actions, credit history, education and jiob history, etc.etc.

Main things other than this:
- Having a non-citizen or someone not born a citizen in your immediate family is something they ask about
- Political affiliation is only the crusty old communist party/violent overthrow stuff. I doubt they care about DU or stuff like that - never came close to asking on the form
- Drug use, they only cared about the last seven years (thank god!)
- Hospitalization for mental disorder they asked, but only a checkbox for psychotherapy (and even then only if for anger/agression issues)
- They want you to list all your non-US travel for the last few years, including short trips to Canada or Mexico.

The most difficult information for me was providing detailed infor on family and job references, including middle names of all these people.

Now top secret I've heard is much much more difficult. They actually use a polygraph there, and are much more intrusive with personal questions.

PS. AFAIK, they never checked any personal references, and that was a few years ago.

[nickinSTL]

17. whatever they ask, don't lie, and be complete

My fiancee, when she went into the Air Force, had her job reservation pulled due to failing the security clearance check, because she hadn't disclosed that she'd defaulted on a student loan.

They gave her clearance for another job after that, though, because, as she tells it, "now we know about the loan default".

So, it wasn't that she had defaulted, but that she hadn't TOLD them she'd defaulted.

[phusion]

18. I had a DOE clearance

I had to provide 10 years of education, employment, and residential history including "someone who knew you at that address." They interviewed my friends and a couple of my family members.

They also look into criminal convictions and any traffic ticket over $250.

I also had to provide fingerprints. Even the high level clearances don't always require polygraphs so I would not worry about that...

Credit is a part of it because they want to determine if you are susceptible to bribes for any information you might have access to.

The forms are a bitch!

Basically they are determining if you are honest and if you have "ever advocated the overthrowing of the U.S. government." Whatever that means...

[unblock]

19. mostly they look to see if you will lie or hide something

there are things that will cause DELAYS, cause them to dig deeper: credit problems, bit of a rap sheet, periods of unemployment (they worry about what you might have done during that time; idle hands and all), odd associations, etc.

but what they usually do is just ask more questions. they also talk to your personal references, former employers, landlords, etc. if they figure that you're lying or trying to hide something, you're toast.

but as long as you're candid and honest, you'd be surprised at what can be in your past and still get a clearance. i knew someone who roomed with 4 different people in college, each on from a restricted country. he also had a drug bust, marijuana i think. no problem, it just took him longer than usual to get the clearance.

[OnionPatch]

27. I admitted to having smoked pot

and I also lived in the middle-east for a year. It didn't hinder my clearance. (I don't have it anymore because I don't work there anymore.) You just have to be truthful and forthright with your info. I was advised by my boss that it would have been worse to lie than just admit it and also that I should tell them I wasn't going to do it anymore. I chose my words carefully: I said I had no plans to smoke pot again. (I don't really plan for that sort of thing. :evilgrin:)

[unblock]

33. right. they're primarily trying to determine if you're blackmailable

which is why being honest and candid works well.
if they determine that you're trying to hide something, then they figure you're blackmailable, and hence a security risk, no matter what it is that you're trying to hide.

[myrna minx]

21. They check into your rental history too.

They'll go to your landlord and former landlord for a reference.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

22. membership in DU

thinking indie thoughts
thinking rationally
thinking.

[Posteritatis]

26. Hardly

I know a few Radical Lefty Types(tm) who've gotten clearances both in the US and Canada. For low- to mid-level clearances, I'd be stunned if they cared at all about this site.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

30. you are correct. My sarcasm is 11 on the 10 scale today, unfortunately.

[Posteritatis]

36. Mea culpa; sometimes it's hard to tell around here. ;) (n/t)

[spuddonna]

24. You may want to let your family know they'll probably get a visit...

I had a secret clearance at a prev job. I didn't know that they'd go in person to talk to my parents! My poor dad almost crapped his pants. :) They talked to some of our neighbors, too. It's a background check so they want to know if you respect the law, have ever broken it, or might be tempted to (ie really bad credit or debts)...

[undeterred]

25. That just seems over the top to me.

[spuddonna]

40. I dunno...

I think for some positions it makes sense. If someone is going to be working in an area where they could overhear sensitive information, I hope as an American they are carefully vetted so they won't be tempted to sell those secrets.

Also, the people that spoke to my parents weren't rude or threatening, they were just doing their job. (It still freaked them out though!) However, I can't speak to what the climate is now... :(

[undeterred]

41. I can guarantee you my mother would be totally freaked

and there wouldn't be enough years left for me to convince her the FBI stopped by even though I did nothing wrong!

In this situation I would be tech support with a company that has a DOD contract, but not dealing directly with information or people at DOD.

[spuddonna]

42. Yeah, when my mom called me to tell me...

...she was like "Honey, this was for a job, right?" lol I felt so bad for my parents! I was soooo naive.

I had an admin/tech support jobby too, but it was in a situation where higher security was required. So I get why they did it. I think that they would only do a detailed background check if you were exposed to information that was classified to some degree. For example, if the server/machines you admin had classified info on them that was 'shared info' with the DOD, you may have to get clearance for as high as the classification goes.

Who knows! Maybe they'll just look at the wiretaps they have on all of us DU'ers! :eyes: That may be all they need! Hi, Agent Mike! :hi:

[Posteritatis]

29. Idly, I rec'd this thread

If just because the discussion seems to qualify as one of those Things That Are Probably Useful To Know About At Some Point.

[undeterred]

39. I've decided not to go for this job

Do I trust the DoD? Not even the least little bit. Do I want them poking around my life? No. Are there other jobs that don't require this? Sure, lots.