Security Clearance Jobs Blog

Here at ClearanceJobs we regularly get questions from individuals wondering if an indiscretion or two (i.e. – occasional drug use in college, a misdemeanor offense, or delinquent credit card debt) will hinder them in receiving a security clearance. The answer is generally  “it depends.” Factors include time elapsed since the incident, efforts to control or handle the problem and an individual’s behavior since. Because time elapsed since an error in judgement is such a critical factor, college students with youthful indiscretions may be in particular trouble. A clearance investigator is unlikely to consider your habitual marijuana use in college to be negated by the fact that you stopped after the spring semester – a few months before applying for a position with the State Department and needing to obtain a clearance.

Fortunately for many Maryland students, there’s Project SCOPE. With the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) bringing tens of thousands of jobs to Maryland – and many of those jobs in fields requiring a security clearance – the Fort Meade Alliance, a local community organization, has stepped in to educate students on what they need to know about obtaining a clearance.  The program is now offered across the state of Maryland and brings together parents, students, teachers and local business leaders to encourage young people to make smart choices – and keep their future career in mind.

It demonstrates just how important a security clearance can be, and why it’s critical for young people to realize that drug use, significant debt or criminal activity aren’t just poor choices to make now, but could impact them in their career down the road.

Editor’s note: With one-in-five high school students reporting having abused prescription drugs, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, it’s increasingly important to remember that abusing medications, just because they’re legal, isn’t okay. Drug abuse is drug abuse.

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It seems BRAC (the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure) is impacting just about everything these days – and security clearance adjudication hasn’t escaped the hit. At the heart of the matter is personnel – with 10 Department of Defense Central Adjudication Facilities moving to a joint location at Fort Meade, Md., expect some growing pains.

Five CAFs are already located within a 3-mile radius of the Pentagon, and not far from their new facility at Fort Meade. The problem will come from the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) and the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) personnel transferring from Columbus, Ohio. Many personnel from those facilities won’t move to the Washington, D.C. area and the process for recruiting, hiring, training  and certifying new personnel security specialists can be a lengthy one. As many as 80 percent of DISCO workers aren’t expected to make the move and with a competitive hiring environment in the Fort Meade area (we have hundreds of open positions around Fort Meade posted at ClearanceJobs.com) they face challenges in filling their open positions.

What you can expect is a longer than usual processing time for pending security clearances and additions to the adjudication backlog.

Read the full story here, and tell us if you’ve noticed delays with the adjudication process.

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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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We are now half way into the Base Realignment and Closure rulings of 2005. Slated to be complete in 2011, thousands of jobs and a number of communities have been uprooted by the decisions. Have you been affected?

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