I wanted to see if anyone had any advice for me. Working at a contractor since October of 2016 when I was granted an interim secret. Filled out/submitted my sf86 in May of 2016. I was interviewed in June of 2017 with a fairly straightforward SF86, investigation closed in August of 2017 and started pending adjudication. My interim was revoked without explanation around end of year of 2017 (don’t recall exact dates but my only thought was the interim expired if that’s even possible). I have been sitting in the same boat ever since with no clearance. I reach out to our FSO almost on a weekly basis, the only help I get there is that they submit a question to DOD CAF of status which a response takes 30 days on, there was one person that I have found in our company that has a “POC” on the CAF side I believe and I was told about 2 months ago that my case was given to an adjudicator and requested to be expedited, still with no news. I have contacted my congressman with a reply that they contacted the government agency responsible regarding my situation, but this sounded like an automated message, I received this response about 3 months ago. Short of hiring a clearance lawyer or finding a new job, is there anything else that I can be doing? My case should be extremely straightforward, no criminal history, no financial issues, no foreign travel that would throw up a red flag. Thanks for the help!
That is somewhat long for a Secret. Normally we are told to not ask if under 12 months on a Secret. Moving out to the 2 years since interim was pulled back…indicates a “something” required scoping. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just an item they will not take chances on until it is investigated. This is the infuriating part. Sitting in between two points with zero communication. I find this the biggest problem for all parties concerned. If you have a common name it could be confusion. It could be forgetting to say you were fired or written up, and they found writeups indicating a lack of candor. And then there are times where nothing is brought forward…and you eventually clear. I would like to see a Statement of Delay added to the process of Statements of Reasons. Something to say we tried getting an investigator in Detroit (or wherever) and could not find anyone for 6 months. I assume you are working, just not in a cleared position?
Yeah this is a very frustrating and tough position to be in. A similar thing happened to me, and I was stuck in adjudication for around 16 months, luckily they eventually got to me somehow. Are you a naturalized citizen perhaps or any foreign contacts? I would say contact your senator’s office and push the FSO to contact CAF. Senator’s office usually takes awhile to get back to you though, but I’ve seen on this forum that it has caused things to move along when people get stuck in adjudication.
Correct, I am currently working for the company that has requested the clearance, just not in a classified setting/information obviously.
Opamp, thanks, I have reached out to my senator and they notified me that they have sent a request to the responsible gvmt agency but I received that response 2-3 months ago and still nothing. I have been leaning on my FSO so much that they probably want my clearance to come in more than me just to stop hearing from me.
If you haven’t heard from your senator’s office in two of three months, contact them. They likely will not be happy if THEY haven’t received a response in that long. They also may have just lost track of the response if it coincided with some sort of crisis in the office.
@EdFarmerIII I have heard back from them but it did seem like it was just an automated message stating that they have reached out to the appropriate government agency regarding my request.
@amberbunny it seems like you have quite a following on here and a large amount of knowledge regarding these situations. It seems odd to me that this is just a sit and wait game, which is the message that I have been getting. Yes, my FSO can request information and request expediting, but how is it that the larger contractors do not have a closer tie into this process. How can nobody tell me if my case has just been lost or forgotten about? I have a really hard time believing that there is not much else that can be done. Outside of my senator, is there not someone that I can personally contact to better understand the situation. I would think that if there was something weird like a name confusion of something found then my investigation would have opened back up instead of just being sitting closed for two years.
OK . . . But, you didn’t get a response, which means that either they haven’t gotten one or that it got put aside before they reached out to you.
My suggestion stands.
Everyone thinks it’s odd that this is just a sit and wait game. But, that’s what it is. You can read it over and over here. My guess is that the government has realized that if they provide updates, they will spend too much of their time providing updates.
This is a clearance, something that allows to access SECRET or TOP-SECRET information used and held by the government. Just how transparent do you expect it to be? The process isn’t there for you. You aren’t the customer. It’s there for the government agencies who make use of cleared personnel. It not there so that you can get a job. It’s there because the government needs reliable cleared people.
Ed is right. And as an analogy, consider the paperwork load your senator has. As Ed said, they may have lost track of your request. Now imagine the clearance world with thousands of packages. As long as your package isn’t exceeding the norms, I would not request more info. I would advise waiting and then possibly once a month. Weekly FSO calls…likely annoying, and zero results. Now, the actual client you submitted for? They have pull. I’m a firm believer in relationship building to the client security office. If the FSO submits a request, it is just a request. But if the client requests an update…sometimes that is the equivalent of “smacking the side of the TV set in the 70’s.” No clue exactly what it did, but the picture looked better. They will deny it. But after a push from the client I sometimes see a few clearances shake free from the tree.
@EdFarmerIII @amberbunny thanks for the insight, that definitely makes sense. I will see if there is anything that can be done from the client side as well as following up with my senator. Thanks again for the information, I will keep this updated if anything comes to fruition in the near future but I am definitely not holding my breath at this point.
I lean towards waiting until the bell curve shows you are beyond the norm, and then use the Senator. You are at that stage and I rarely tell someone to use outside help. If your credit is good to outstanding, no arrests, drugs etc…and you would know this…then something is slowing this up. Foreign contact? Forgot to speak to a firing? If it isn’t’ any of those, it may very well have fallen by the wayside. Supporting a 400 plus person contract it happens regularly enough to know it isn’t rare. I have had a Secret NAC run go two years recently. No rhyme, no reason.
@amberbunny what would be considered beyond the bell curve norm for a secret clearance?
I can’t offer any additional suggest that’ll get this solved, but I recommend you get a copy of your JPAS/DISS record from DMDC and a copy of your investigation from OPM. There should be a short notation in your JPAS record showing the reason your interim clearance was withdrawn. Your investigative file should reveal more information
I was just going to ask Mr William-Henderson to weigh in, and here he is! Honestly, once you go beyond 12 months if there is no record of arrests, crime, bad finances, drugs or foreign involvement…it should be a done deal. There are “no info” areas where some FSO’s aren’t checking or following up, and certainly periods where it is actively investigated and “in process.” Those are the most frustrating to me professionally. I believe the government could be far more transparent and recognize people’s lives, careers, and income hang in the balance. I believe we should be able to see a moving icon each time our file moves on or to a new level. Something to show us where we stalled at. After 2 years if you have zero negative findings…something is afoot and it can be as simple as the file fell off a desk. Periodically I send forth a list of our people in process. If you are beyond 12 months for a Secret and beyond 18 to 24 months for TS SCI Poly…they should be inquiring. We won’t get told any personal info, just “yes it is alive and moving forward.” Sometimes that is all it takes. Honestly, after 2 years it would seem a denial is coming your way. Is there any complicating factors you can think of? Anything not reported that should be reported, foreign travel, contacts, arrests, job terminations? Was your credit history always fair to good, as opposed to just your FICO? If you had a fairly long history of not paying bills and you only started paying them when submitted for a clearance that presents an adjudication issue to consider. But they should follow up with a personal interview because if it is explainable, it is understandable.
@amberbunny my wife was born in a foreign country but is now a citizen of the US and has received her full secret in half of the time that mine has been taking. My foreign contacts are 4 that reside in Canada. This is the only thing that would be holding this up, and I do understand that it is likely the case, but holding up an adjudication decision for 2 years? My gut feeling is that my case got lost somewhere. Would it be possible that there was a mix up when adjudication changed hands between agencies (this did happen right?)? Outside of this, there has been no firings from jobs, no missed reporting of information on SF86, no credit issues ever, no arrests, no drug use, nothing that would stand out at all.
You are working with an interim . . . This likely means that you are not a priority for adjudication but it is certainly possible that your file fell behind the proverbial desk. Shaking the tree by contacting your representatives is completely reasonable but don’t expect it to cause a miracle.
Four friends in Canada aren’t going to cause a denial, they didn’t cause your interim to be denied.
I think interims are withdrawn and revoked in adjudication when your file is sent for secondary review for a closer inspection. It doesn’t mean you’ll get a denial. I have read on this website that there is a huge backlog at DoDCAF now, so that may explain this delay. I would follow up with your senator’s office until they get a response from DoDCAF. If you read this forum, there have been plenty of cases stuck in adjudication for years unfortunately.
And those that already have clearances are moved to the bottom of the stack. Owell, at least I’m working
It abso-posi-lutely can fall between the cracks when clearance folks swap out, change over etc. I deal with it all the time. I can show digitally I was asked to fix a page, I respond to the case manager with the corrected info, get a positive acknowledgement…and 5 months later another person is asking for the very same info. I once again forward the entire chain…and get roughly “Well, we don’t have it.”
2 mos. shy of 2 yrs w/ no issues…none