Security Clearance Jobs Blog

As seen on Time Magazine’s website. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been “the best recruiting officer” for U.S. military efforts to partner with Arab states over the past year. That’s according to General David Petraeus, who as commander of Centcom is responsible for overseeing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

What’s been good for Centcom has also been good for the high-tech U.S. arms industry. Despite the global recession, Arab states have signed huge deals for U.S. military hardware, whose sophistication has been on full display in two long wars in the neighborhood.

Petraeus said countries in the region now deploy eight Patriot missile-interceptor batteries — up from zero a few years ago — made by Raytheon Corp. And the Pentagon last month announced that Kuwait had ordered upgrades of its Patriot missile system, in a deal worth $410 million. But Raytheon isn’t the only beneficiary of anxiety over Iran. The United Arab Emirates this year ordered $9 billion worth of U.S. military gear, Petraeus noted, including 70 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets.

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The Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced last week regarding their 2nd Annual Summer Seminar for College Students interested in Intelligence Community careers.

They will again offer about 40 highly motivated graduate students and college seniors an opportunity to study with currently serving intelligence analysts and other experts. The National Security Analysis & Intelligence Summer Seminar is planned for July 13 through July 24 in Washington, D.C. The intensive, residential seminar will include lectures, field trips to agencies and work on substantive topics under the direction of Intelligence Community analysts, academics and other professionals.

Career opportunities will be highlighted. Students who are selected and approved will receive secret-level security clearances for the duration of the seminar. “The program’s benefits are many fold,” said Director Dennis C. Blair. “The Intelligence Community is eager to work with some of the nation’s best and brightest. In return, we hope they will benefit from an inside look at what national intelligence is all about.”

The NSAISS application will be available online in January. It is recommended that students who are interested in careers in intelligence begin to gather transcripts, two letters of recommendation and a current resume that must accompany the application. Applicants will also need to complete Standard Form 86 (SF-86)/Questionnaire for National Security Positions (download here).

The NSAISS is open to U.S. citizens who are graduate students, and to college seniors graduating in the 2009-2010 academic year and applying to graduate school. The seminar is not open to federal government employees, contractors or currently serving military or activated reservists. Participants will receive travel expenses, room and board, course materials and a $500 stipend. The debut effort attracted more than 700 applicants for 40 slots.

For more information, click here.

Related: Intelligence Jobs on ClearanceJobs.com

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The 2009 Security Clearance Salary Survey of 5,023 security-cleared job seekers conducted by ClearanceJobs.com has been released! See how you compare with your colleagues!

After you complete this short survey, you will be provided with the most current salary survey results in an 8 page [pdf] report for free!

Get the Security Clearance Salary Survey

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Last week during the Telework Exchange Town Hall Meeting, OPM Director John Berry credited the approx. 5,000 investigators who worked from home in reducing the average time needed for a security clearance investigation from a year in ‘01 to 37 days.

The Department of Defense (DoD) had the greatest number (16,871)  of employees teleworking. Although cybersecurity concerns may undermine the ability of many defense employees to work at home.  However, as noted a few months ago, the DoD will test a program aimed to set up a secure telework site in the D.C. metro area for federal employees who need to access classified networks.

Status of Telework in the Federal Government [pdf] | telework.gov

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Our very own Evan Lesser aka “admin” made an appearance last Sunday on This Week in Defense News where he discusses the pay gap between civilian and government employees with security clearances.

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In the fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill a test program aims to set up a secure telework site in the D.C. metro area for federal employees who need to access classified networks. Nextgov reports that at least two sites in the D.C. area will be identified where they can test the efficacy of a secure teleworking location for government workers.

Teleworking is seen as a retention and recruitment tool to help deal with the latest BRAC round where DISA is being forced to move employees from Northern Virginia to Fort Meade. Approximately 70% of DISA employees live in Northern Virginia. More than 2,000 DISA employees already work remotely, but on unclassified work only.

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A June 20, 2009 article at WashingtonPost.com reported, “The Obama administration has proposed the creation of an intelligence officer training program in colleges and universities that would function much like the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps run by the military services.”

Under the sponsorship of the Director of National Intelligence the new program would expand on two earlier educational programs and focus on first- and second-generation Americans with language and cultural knowledge. Candidates would be selected from among sophomores and juniors at participating schools and would receive financial assistance similar to the support given to those in ROTC, plus paid summer internships. Participation in the program would obligate the student to serve in an IC agency for a period of time based on the financial assistance they received. The intelligence community (IC) currently provides funding to 14 colleges and universities for programs in national security studies.

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An article in The Houston Chronicle detailed a two-year forbidden foreign love affair that got a Houston engineer six months in federal prison. The engineer wasn’t accused of spying, but was accused of and pleaded guilty to conspiring to make false statements.

Gregory W. Blackard, 38, was sentenced for hiding his affair with a Chinese woman while working on construction of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Having a high-security clearance to work on the embassy, Blackard was banned from fraternizing with Chinese nationals. He met other Chinese people through the woman and traveled with her to places such as Hong Kong, the Great Wall, and Long Mai Hot Springs.

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According to a May 25, 2009 article at FederalTimes.com, “Fifty-three federal and contractor falsified security clearance background investigations since 2005. . . . All of them have either been fired or left their jobs, and six were prosecuted within the last year for criminal misconduct.” The investigators worked directly or indirectly for the Federal Investigative Services Division (FISD) of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). OPM chose to prosecute six investigators to send a message to potential offenders that they can face felony charges and jail time, instead of just being fired.

Other current and former investigators blame the problem on crushing workloads and constant pressure from supervisors to meet shorter deadlines for completing investigations. The article quoted Kathy Dillaman, Associate Director of FISD, as saying, “There are certainly pressures to perform. The taxpayers deserve that. But this isn’t your job if you can’t handle those pressures.

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An April 10, 2009 article in CQ Politics highlights John Sullivan, who spent three decades as a CIA polygrapher giving polygraph tests to CIA employees.

When he sought a renewal of his CIA security clearance for a post-retirement job – He was turned down.

Sullivan had just written “Gatekeeper: Memoirs of a CIA Polygraph Examiner,” which discusses internal politics of the CIA.

“Today, he says, “I absolutely believe that the last polygraph examination I underwent was an abuse of the process and that those who participated in that process engaged in misconduct.”

I asked him whether CIA polygraphers are grilled on whether they’ve ever abused their powers, either on their own or at the direction of agency higher-ups, during their own lie detector exams.

They are not.”

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Heading to day three of FOSE at the DC Convention Center? Drop by our booth #1809 and say hello. We’ve got super cool 1GB ClearanceJobs.com flash drives free for the first 10 visitors. Just make sure not to use them on any classified computers..

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In January the Smith Amendment was repealed and replaced by Bond Amendment prohibiting all federal agencies from granting or renewing any security clearance for a current user of illegal drugs…

February, President Bush issued a memorandum to all executive branch departments and agencies directing that DoD, DNI, OPM, OMB and assistant to the President for National Security Affairs submit a proposal by April 30, 2008 to modernize, standardize, and integrate comprehensive credentialing, security clearance, and suitability processes...

During the month of March, Congress sent a request to the GAO asking for a formal evaluation of Intelligence Community security clearance processes and the DNI’s pilot project for security clearance reform…

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and the National Defense Industrial Association surveyed more than 100 contractors that provide security-cleared labor to federal agencies in April.  The companies identified several complaints about the current clearance system. An article in the Washington Business Journal on April 25, 2008 reported information from a survey…read the entire year in review.

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A FCW.com article on the 4 Feb 09 has confirmed that SRA International’s computer network was infected by a virus, which may have exposed a number of federal employees’ personal information.

“The breached information could include names, addresses, dates of birth, health information and Social Security numbers. Personal company computers with data from questionnaires related to employees security positions may have been exposed to unauthorized access too, according to SRA’s notification letter.”

Hackers may have also been able to access the data SRA collects in its security position questionnaires, the company said. SRA doesn’t know if any data has been compromised but is taking the precaution of notifying customers that their data may have been accessed…

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An article posted on ClearanceJobs.com on 26 Jan 09 focuses on the relevance and effect of criminal conduct on security clearances.

The Adjudicative Guidelines states that Criminal activity creates doubt about a person’s judgment, reliability and trustworthiness. By its very nature, it calls into question a person’s ability or willingness to comply with laws, rules and regulations.

Because of the high rate of adult recidivism, this issue is perhaps one of the best predictors of future compliance with rules for handling classified information.

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The Questionnaire for National Security Positions (Standard Form 86 – SF86) asks if an applicant has ever been charged with a felony offense or any offense involving alcohol, drugs, firearms or explosives. It also asks if an applicant:

1) has been arrested within the past 7 years (10 years for Top Secret clearance),
2) has been subject to court martial or other military disciplinary proceedings, or
3) is currently pending some court action for a criminal charge or offense.

Criminal offenses are divided into three categories: infractions, misdemeanors, and felonies. For security clearance purposes, an infraction is…read more.

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In their 17 September 2008 written remarks to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management, John Fitzpatrick, Acting Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Security and Elizabeth McGrath, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation reported that eAdjudication of clean cases for Secret clearances will begin at selected adjudication facilities by the end of the year. About 25% of Secret clearances will be eligible for eAdjudication. This should speed up the process by allowing adjudicators to spend their time on more complex cases.

According to the print edition of the Federal Times, McGrath told the subcommittee in follow-up testimony that the Army will begin a pilot eAdjudication program by the end of December and that it will cover Army personnel, civilian employees and contractors. The administration wants eAdjudication to eventually cover all federal agencies.

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