Who has failed or barely passed a security clearance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who was born in Taiwan, is a naturalized US citizen, and has many Chinese relatives who live on the mainland or who live in the USA and often travel to Taiwan and the PRC. He still has a clearance. This sorta surprises me.

He is a US citizen. He is allowed to travel if he gets permission.

Permission from whom? US citizens don’t need permission to travel.

Depends on the agency, some federal employees need permission to travel out of the country.

[Anonymous]

I have many friends with clearances, particularly who work at State/USAID. By nature of their careers, these people have travelled abroad a ton and have many foreign contacts (and sometimes foreign relatives). The only person I know who was denied a clearance was a friend who is the most innnocuous sweet person with no foreign relatives and very limited foreign travel. No one could figure out why on earth they denied her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have many friends with clearances, particularly who work at State/USAID. By nature of their careers, these people have travelled abroad a ton and have many foreign contacts (and sometimes foreign relatives). The only person I know who was denied a clearance was a friend who is the most innnocuous sweet person with no foreign relatives and very limited foreign travel. No one could figure out why on earth they denied her.

If she was keeping a secret you can be denied. I know someone who was denied because she wouldn’t tell her family that she’d had an abortion - the abortion itself wasn’t the issue, it was that she kept it secret. It’s an issue of whether you can be bribed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question for you all.

I know a guy who broke up with his russian girlfriend because she wouldn't denounce her russian citizenship on his request. He was afraid he could lose his clearance, not sure if it was top secret or not. She has dual citizenship but didn't want to lose russian one because her parents are getting old and she wants to be able to visit them without issues. They dated for year or so, I thought that was an excuse to break up. Could dating someone with dual citizenship risk someone's clearance? What about being married to someone with dual?

Yes. You have to report any foreign friends. Being married would definitely be a bigger issue.

You say this with such confidence, and yet you are wrong about being married part. I have personal experience with the issue.

The investigator checked up on my dh's foreign friends from 20 years ago. They seemed to be serious.

For the highest clearances, you absolutely have to report foreign national contacts. Also, if you want to marry a foreign national, that person has to be polygraphed.

Finally, you have to get permission for foreign travel and travel to certain countries is not allowed.

This is all for TS//SCI clearances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW for everyone interested, you can find records of appeals of some clearance decisions here:

http://ogc.osd.mil/doha/industrial/

Worth looking through what issues get raised.

I don’t understand the one where the judge thought that the applicant was 5 years older??

http://ogc.osd.mil/doha/industrial/2018/17-01866.a1.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW for everyone interested, you can find records of appeals of some clearance decisions here:

http://ogc.osd.mil/doha/industrial/

Worth looking through what issues get raised.

I don’t understand the one where the judge thought that the applicant was 5 years older??

http://ogc.osd.mil/doha/industrial/2018/17-01866.a1.pdf

What don’t you understand? The judge listed the applicant’s age incorrectly in his/her initial opinion. The applicant appealed, claiming harmful error. The appeal board affirmed the judge’s decision, concluding that the error was harmless and therefore didn’t warrant reversal or remand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to BS about not smoking weed in the last year

Wish me luck everyone

The answer is always no. You’ll be fine.

How much should people report past use? Does it matter what level you are going for?

Crazy that someone got denied public trust for saying they smoked weed in the past year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to BS about not smoking weed in the last year

Wish me luck everyone

The answer is always no. You’ll be fine.

How much should people report past use? Does it matter what level you are going for?

Crazy that someone got denied public trust for saying they smoked weed in the past year

No it's not, you are doing something illegal and it's a lack of judgement and could be black mail

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to BS about not smoking weed in the last year

Wish me luck everyone

The answer is always no. You’ll be fine.

How much should people report past use? Does it matter what level you are going for?

Crazy that someone got denied public trust for saying they smoked weed in the past year

It probably varies by organization, but for a TS, I wouldn't admit to smoking weed in the last year. Also, most people don't get knocked out of the process because the poly gave a weird reading, they fail because they end up confessing to everything under the sun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to BS about not smoking weed in the last year

Wish me luck everyone

The answer is always no. You’ll be fine.

How much should people report past use? Does it matter what level you are going for?

Crazy that someone got denied public trust for saying they smoked weed in the past year

It probably varies by organization, but for a TS, I wouldn't admit to smoking weed in the last year. Also, most people don't get knocked out of the process because the poly gave a weird reading, they fail because they end up confessing to everything under the sun.

Yep.

- Someone with a TS//SCI clearance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I help new team members navigate the security process. I have team members who smoked pot within the last year in a state where it is "legal" who get public trust denied.
Team members with bankruptcy denied
Team members who have dual citizenship denied

Individuals with a company bankruptcy - took a really long time to make a decision but eventually got public trust.

Individuals who did a lot of international travel in Eastern European - took a very long time but eventually got public trust.

Individuals who did not register for selective service - denied.
Individual who had decided not to take a breathalyzer and hired a lawyer to get his record cleared - denied.

What level was the dual citizenship denied for?

All of these were for Suitability / Public Trust [officially not a clearance]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have many friends with clearances, particularly who work at State/USAID. By nature of their careers, these people have travelled abroad a ton and have many foreign contacts (and sometimes foreign relatives). The only person I know who was denied a clearance was a friend who is the most innnocuous sweet person with no foreign relatives and very limited foreign travel. No one could figure out why on earth they denied her.

If she was keeping a secret you can be denied. I know someone who was denied because she wouldn’t tell her family that she’d had an abortion - the abortion itself wasn’t the issue, it was that she kept it secret. It’s an issue of whether you can be bribed.

What? Some of the stories and perspectives on this thread are crazy to me. My clearance process was nothing like this. How would anyone even know if I have/haven’t had an abortion? People take this so weirdly seriously. Just live a normal law-abiding life and follow the rules and there shouldn’t be any issues.

-Has TS/SCI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to BS about not smoking weed in the last year

Wish me luck everyone

The answer is always no. You’ll be fine.

How much should people report past use? Does it matter what level you are going for?

Crazy that someone got denied public trust for saying they smoked weed in the past year

Why is it crazy that the organization said they were not suitable for a federal position given that they broke federal law in the last year?
What other Federal laws don't apply to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have many friends with clearances, particularly who work at State/USAID. By nature of their careers, these people have travelled abroad a ton and have many foreign contacts (and sometimes foreign relatives). The only person I know who was denied a clearance was a friend who is the most innnocuous sweet person with no foreign relatives and very limited foreign travel. No one could figure out why on earth they denied her.

If she was keeping a secret you can be denied. I know someone who was denied because she wouldn’t tell her family that she’d had an abortion - the abortion itself wasn’t the issue, it was that she kept it secret. It’s an issue of whether you can be bribed.

What? Some of the stories and perspectives on this thread are crazy to me. My clearance process was nothing like this. How would anyone even know if I have/haven’t had an abortion? People take this so weirdly seriously. Just live a normal law-abiding life and follow the rules and there shouldn’t be any issues.

-Has TS/SCI

That I don’t have answers to. And I also have TS/SCI, but somehow they knew about the abortion and didn’t want her to be susceptible to blackmail because she refused to tell her family. She was also going for TS/SCI if that matters. Don’t recall which dept/agency though.

[Anonymous]

Weed shouldn't be illegal at the federal level especially since it's already legal in many states

If you can't see the difference between smoking weed with a friend and robbing a bank, then I can't help you