I received a COE from DIA back in October 2016 for a GS position. I’m retired military and held a TS/SCI during my entire military career without any incidents. My clearance expired when I left DoD for another federal job (GS) back in 2005 where I currently work. Since I have been in a public trust position since 2005, I’m really starting the security clearance process all over again.
During Nov/Dec 16, I completed all initial processing (Poly, SF86 for me and my wife, medical, drug test, etc…). I was interviewed by an investigator the beginning of Jan 17 and know some of my friends, neighbors, and work colleagues were also interviewed/contacted. I have a pretty clean record and was told by the investigator that my case was one of the easiest he has done.
During the 3rd week of Apr 17, I received a call from an adjudicator asking for a checkbox (indicating all info provided is correct) to be checked on my wife’s SF86. Apparently, it was inadvertently left unchecked and was required to complete my final processing. I was told once I provide the corrected page, they were able to be clear me (whatever that meant). When I contacted the adjudicator directly a week or so later, I was told they aren’t allowed to discuss anything further with me. I was basically told not to contact them again and was referred to my POC in HR for any additional questions. I have since contacted my POC a couple of times to only be told they are still waiting on my clearance (still in adjudication). It is now 5 July 2017 and I’m still waiting on my clearance. It’s so frustrating and there’s really nothing I can do but wait for them to contact me.
Is this normal? Do adjudicators really have a timeline. I have read somewhere they have 90 days to complete their review. I’m a couple of weeks or so away from that 90-day timeline. Or maybe the security agencies (DIA, CIA, etc…) follow different processing rules or use their own adjudicators?
Thank you!
I’ve been waiting Adjudication for 7 months. Same story i’ve been told…waiting adjudication and nothing more.
Are you government or contractor? And with one of the IAs?
Contractor. What is IAs? Sorry for the lack of knowledge on Acronyms.
Intelligence Agencies (DIA, CIA, etc…). Thanks.
If HR is simply waiting on a response from Clearance, and they are content or intimidated into sitting and waiting…this is believable. If the Security Manager is timid, defers to to HR, or simply doesn’t know they can “shake the tree,” by asking for a case manager’s input…it is believable and probable. Sometimes this becomes an ingrained pattern and the new norm. When I initially accepted my current Security management position, HR had inherited the clearance package process. They were content to sit and wait and didn’t want to anger the clearance gods. I advocated for being aggressive. Now with recent changes and a new HR, I have completely taken on clearance packages and I call at will.
If I have a Secret clearance in process for 6 months and a day, I call. If I have a TS package beyond 12 to 14 months I call.
In short, if you can talk directly to the Security Manager, if they are empowered to do their job, they can call and get things moving. Even if they are told it is “in process”…I find they sometimes suddenly clear after a phone call.
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@amberbunny: I think you hit the nail on the head. Whenever I can get in touch with my HR rep, I’m always told “still waiting” or “still in adjudication!” I’ve come to believe there is no call or push to security to find out where in the adjudication process my clearance is. It’s been nearly 3 months now since I was last contacted by an adjudicator to provide one tiny piece of information (a missing checkbox) and a month since the last update from my HR rep. I’ve e-mailed and called (left voicemails) to see if anything has evolved and they are non-responsive most times. I totally understand that they are so busy that it’s not possible to take calls but I wouldn’t be in my job today if I went weeks without even acknowledging a customer’s call or e-mail. I feel I would do more harm than good if I try to go around/above my normal HR contact. I know sometimes there’s nothing new to report but it sure would nice just to get that warm fuzzy that someone is on the other end checking on things for me.