Security Clearance Jobs Blog

Security clearance reciprocity, adjudication timeliness and leveraging technology to increase efficiency were all topics addressed at this week’s Security Clearance Reform hearing on Capitol Hill. Senator Daniel Akaka, Chairman of the Senate’s subcommittee on oversight of government management and the federal workforce, questioned a panel of government leaders on the progress of clearance reforms.

The general consensus was that much progress has been made over the course of the past several years, in moving the security clearance process off of the GAO hot seat and into a position to be, in some ways, a model for similar reform efforts in standardizing government processes. But despite the forward movement, much remains to be done, specifically in the area of reciprocity and communication across agencies.

The Performance Accountability Council (PAC) is responsible for many of the clearance reforms today’s applicants will note, including updating the security clearance application (SF-86) and instituting quality metrics. Today, initial investigations take an average of 44 days, compared to 189 days in 2005, noted Akaka.

Remarks from Gene Dodoro, comptroller general at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, emphasized the progress in security clearance reform as indicated by the removal of the program from the GAO’s high-risk list. Despite forward movement, however, he also emphasized that continued leadership emphasis and public attention would be needed to ensure reform efforts continue.

Dodoro specifically noted the need to reduce redundancy, leverage technology, and conduct an honest assessment of which positions require clearances and what level of clearance is required. “There’s a huge difference in the amount of money that’s used to implement a top secret versus a secret clearance,” Dodoro said.

“For fiscal year 2012 OPM’s standard base prices are $4,005 for an initial investigation of a top secret clearance, $2,711 for an investigation to renew a top secret clearance, and either $228 or $260 for an investigation for a secret clearance. As we reported in February 2012, these base prices can increase if triggered by the circumstances of a case, such as issues related to credit or criminal history checks,” noted Dodoro’s testimony. “Further, the cost of getting and maintaining a top secret clearance for 10 years is almost 30 times greater than the cost of getting and maintaining a secret clearance for the same period.”

Dodoro urged that requesting a lower level clearance when a higher one isn’t needed, as well as evaluating continued need for higher level clearances during periodic reinvestigations would likely result in significant savings for the federal government.

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Other testimony largely focused on the issue of reciprocity, and leveraging technology to facilitate timely adjudication for personnel, which is deemed both critical to safeguarding classified materials as well as ensuring a quality workforce.

“A timely process is important because delays in processing security clearances can cause delays in placing qualified individuals in the cleared positions that are needed to accomplish our many missions,” said Elizabeth McGrath, deputy chief management officer, U.S. Department of Defense. “In some cases delays may result in highly qualified applicants withdrawing themselves from consideration for positions and the government losing out on these potential key contributors to our workforce.”

When it comes to clearance reciprocity, McGrath made the case for DoD’s Case Adjudication Tracking System (CATS), initially developed by the Army and now in use across the Department of Defense as well as the Department of Energy. McGrath noted that the Social Security administration was set to deploy cats in FY 2013. The CATS e-adjudication capability as greatly reduced the amount of manual processing required, said McGrath.

Merton Miller, associate director of the federal investigative service of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) noted that Electronic Questionnaires for Security Clearance Processing (eQIP) is the “gold standard” for electronic application throughout the federal government and has made a significant impact on clearance processing times and accuracy. OPM currently receives over 99 percent of its applications through e-QIP, Miller noted.

Overall, future clearance reform will focus both on leveraging technology to increase agency reciprocity programs, as well as continued emphasis on the topic of overclassification – both in terms of classified materials themselves, as well as the numbers of cleared personnel.

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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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A monograph on “Debt and Home Foreclosures: Their Effect on National Security Clearances” by Sheldon I. Cohen, a prominent Washington D.C. area attorney specializing in national security clearance, was recently posted at his website. Cohen reviewed 62 case decisions by Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) Administrative Judges between 2006 and 2010 involving foreclosures and short sales. He also reviewed 71 DOHA Appeal Board cases involving Guideline F: Financial Considerations. Regarding 22 case decisions that resulted in the granting of security clearances, Cohen stated:

“The common thread in all of these cases is that: (1) applicants were victims of circumstances not of their own doing; (2) they had not been speculators in the housing market who were caught when the bubble burst; (3) they had not succumbed to fraudulent schemes “too good to be true” as a result of their own greed; and (4) they had made good faith efforts to meet their other debts after the loss of their homes by foreclosure or short sale.”

This monograph is probably the only document on the internet that analyzes written case decisions on this subject. A further analysis of the cases reviewed by Cohen might produce some distinctions between outcomes of cases involving foreclosures versus short sales.

Full 37 page study [pdf] – Debt and Home Foreclosures: Their Effect on National Security Clearances

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At first, it looked like 62 workers at Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS)’s military payroll accounting facility in Cleveland, Ohio would lose their jobs due to credit problems. In the past, other DFAS workers in Columbus and Indianapolis had lost jobs because of credit issues.  The Cleveland facility processes pay for active Navy personnel, military retirees, and government officials, including the President.

After some lobbying by local members of Congress, an article in The Plain Dealer explains what happened next…

“The Defense Finance and Accounting Service has agreed to suspend a controversial policy of firing workers for credit reasons while it reviews whether it was necessary to upgrade their security clearances in 2005. The announcement gives a temporary reprieve to 47 workers who were about to lose their jobs.”

“DFAS spokesman Tom LaRock said that since 2001, 54 employees from all DFAS offices have been terminated for not being able to obtain a favorable background clearance…All DFAS positions are classified as sensitive, LaRock said. Because they process people’s pay, employees have access to social security numbers, bank accounts and other sensitive information, he said.”

“It is not top secret or confidential,” he said. “It is considered a background clearance.”

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Amid growing unemployment, foreclosure and delinquency rates are spiking.  We thought it would be a good time to revisit how a person’s personal financial situation can affect their  security clearance.

A sampling of Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) security clearance hearings showed (in 2007, just when the recession was taking hold) that about 50% of clearance denials involved “Financial Considerations”

Since delinquent debt is by far the most common financial concern, we published several articles on this very topic entitled; The Impact of Delinquent Debt on Security Clearances, What To Do If You Have Delinquent Debt, Explaining Delinquent Debt on the SF-86, Delinquent Debt and Interim Clearance, as well as several blog posts.

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What should you do…

1. Start correcting the problem immediately, document all efforts, and keep a chronology of activities.

2. Get credit reports from all three national credit reporting companies and use the reports to make a list of all your creditors, but understand its limits. Things that sometimes don’t show up on a credit report including unpaid alimony, tax delinquencies, automobile leases, and some other debts. Occasionally erroneous and duplicate information appears on a report. Although the clearance application form (SF86) only asks for 7 year’s worth of financial information; adjudicators may consider all financial information available to them, including financial information collected by field investigators from court records, rental/utility records, personal references, real estate records, and employment records that does not appear on a credit report.

3. Immediately take action to dispute any erroneous information on the credit report.

4. Make at least minimum regular monthly payments to all creditors.

5. Contact those creditors that have unpaid claims against you, insure that the claims are legitimate, and set up a repayment schedule as soon as possible. Try to communicate in writing and keep copies of all correspondence. If you communicate by telephone, make a written record of the telephone call and include the date, name of the person you spoke to, and a gist of the conversation.

6. Seek credit counseling if necessary, preferably with organizations that is a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. They may be able to negotiate better repayment terms and lower interest rates than you are able to obtain by yourself.

7. Don’t be afraid of bankruptcy, if your situation warrants it. If you seek the services of a reputable credit counseling service first, they will advise you whether your situation can be resolved better through bankruptcy or debt consolidation.

William H. Henderson is a retired security investigator, author of Security Clearance Manual, and regular contributor to ClearanceJobsBlog.com and ClearanceJobs.com.

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With the economic downturn and entering the seventh year of overseas combat, some Soldiers and civilians are worried about their security clearance.

The commander of the U.S. Army Central Personnel Security Clearance Facility (CCF) wants all Army personnel to understand that “they can obtain counseling services for financial and mental health issues without undue concern of placing their security clearance status in jeopardy…”

As previously mentioned on ClearanceJobsBlog, a bankruptcy or foreclosure will not automatically prevent one from obtaining or maintaining a security clearance. There are many conditions surrounding financial hardships that often mitigate security concerns.

In fact, about 98 percent of cases received by the CCF which involve financial issues were granted a security clearance. This trend has been consistent since 2005.  Individuals under financial duress are encouraged to contact their local Army Community Service or Military One Source to obtain financial counseling to determine how to best manage their debts.

Many Soldiers expressed an unwillingness to participate in behavioral or psychological health programs, however the OPM ensures that investigations are conducted in a manner compliant with the revised Q21, which excludes the reporting of treatment related to adjustments from service in a military combat environment, such as PTSD, or mild traumatic brain injury.

Executive Order 12968, Access to Classified Information states mental health counseling in and of itself is not a reason to revoke or deny a security clearance. Seeking support to address mental health issues demonstrates inner strength and embodies the Warrior Ethos, Army leaders have said.

Professional mental health counseling is not a threat to an individual’s security clearance; rather it can be a positive factor in the security clearance process, officials said.  CCF’s adjudicative history indicates that 99.98 percent of cases with psychological concerns obtained/retained their security clearance eligibility.  The current policy provides both adjudicators and commanders flexibility to allow individuals undergoing counseling to maintain their security clearance.

Related Articles: Personal Finances and Security Clearances

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Worried about being denied a security clearance because of bad credit? Considering a credit repair company to fix your credit report?

In an AARP Bulletin Today Scam Alert article, Credit Repair’s Dirty Business, Steven Baker of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was quoted as saying, “In the last year, we’ve seen an increase of 50 percent in reports of credit repair scams. And to date, we’ve never seen a legitimate credit repair company. False promises, upfront fees, and worthless services may be the norm.

Since 1998 the FTC has brought action against over 50 credit repair firms that allegedly misrepresented their credit-related services. The FTC also prosecuted more than a dozen companies that allegedly offered debt relief but misrepresented the cost or nature of the relief.

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