The “substantial information” exception to reciprocity of security clearances does not authorize requesting a new security questionnaire, reviewing existing background investigations or security questionnaires, or initiating new investigative checks (such as a credit check) to determine whether such “substantial information” exists.

SO how are they conducting new investigations, if they are not authroized to request a new questionnaire, etc. from the transfer employee???
Full “Declaration of Principles” seems pretty clear. It also states OMB wants to know about agency who choose to conduct one anyway.

Everyone who falls under this “transfer” employee status subjected to a new investigation, should alert OMB to the added waste of resources and time delays for “REINVESTIGATIONS” of their current clearances.

http://www.archives.gov/isoo/oversight-groups/nisp/declaration-of-principles.html

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/online/1_1/32757-1.html

Believe what you will about bothering folks, but if it were my case and it had been 3 years, you can bet I would be picking-up the telephone!!!!!!! There could be a million different reasons it’s not done–but I’m guessing none good enough to justify 3 years.

Think about how great it would be to have your clearance in under 4 months if you’re clean. It’s certainly a wonderful fantasy world.

I work for a mid-sized government contracting company (between 1,000 and 5,000 employees), and we have NEVER seen someone’s clearance come back that quickly. I am no stranger to the security clearance verification and adjudication process. I realize that the time it takes largely depends on certain factors such as time spent overseas, personal travel to certain countries on the watch list, number and type of foreign contacts, etc. However, we have a guy who has been waiting THREE YEARS as of next month, and he still is only sitting with his interim secret. Of course, I ask our security office if we can contact DISCO or OPM about it, and they say “No! He gets it when he gets it!” This attitude has been promulgated by years of “security through obscurity” in the entire security clearance process. It’s as if their mantra is: “Don’t ask questions because that will just upset them (DISCO or OPM), and they’ll put your package back at the bottom of the stack!” Retribution just for trying to see where a clearance package is in the process???!???!?!? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Visibility into the process (mandated from above, perhaps through legislative pressure) is the only way to apply the necessary pressure on these organizations to work the backlog. Then, if they are not properly resourced, those issues should come to light, so they can be resolved. Let’s stop the sixth grade game of “if you bug me about your clearance, I’ll just ‘lose’ it for awhile.”

I have a new hire who submitted his clearance paperwork a couple weeks ago. He is probably the most “ideal” candidate an employer could want with respect to eligibility for a security clearance. Other than a couple years in Germany when his family was stationed there with the Air Force in his youth, this guy has no marks against him: no foreign contacts, no other foreign travel except for a Caribbean cruise a few years back, never tried marijuana, and no felonies/arrests/etc… only a single parking ticket. We’ll see if this “near pristine” case gets through the investigation process in 120 days. He got his interim secret in a week, but that was probably academic given his clean background. I’ll update the blog on the status of how long it took.