Hi, I am currently in the process for TS-SCI (submitted SF86 in June 2018). About six months ago one of my references was contacted by the BI. I used to work with that reference at a bank. The BI was apparently particularly agressive with this reference. He called his dad, showed up at his job in a van with another BI. Anyways, after the BI interviewed him, my reference called me and told me that the BI told him that another reference of mine (did not reveal name) who also worked with us at the bank said I was a bad employee who would always show up late to work. This is not true, and my reference told the BI that I was a good employee.
Anyways, my question is was the BI simply employing a mind game to get a more accurate answer? Did he make potentially make up the bad reference to see if my reference would confirm? Or is that unheard of? Thanks.
Going all out trying to get a reference to respond isn’t weird. BIs are expected to get the interviews done quickly. The people we are contacting generally don’t have the same sense of urgency as the BIs do.
However, we are not permitted to divulge case information, good or bad, to references, sources, spouses, etc - aside from the minimal - so and so needs a clearance for his/her job with the government or military.
Thank you for responding. So you are saying it is unlikely the BI would have told my reference what another reference said about me? Assuming he does not reveal his identity.
It would be bizarre (as well as unprofessional and against protocol) for the BI to have said anything like that, true or otherwise. In a properly conducted investigation, no, that would not have been said. A BI can, and should, ask about a person’s conduct at work, inquiring as to whether there have been any problems. A BI can rattle off a few generic examples (i.e. Has person had any problems at work? Any issues with conduct, security violations, personality conflicts? Etc). Sometimes it jogs the memory of the person being interviewed. We do not say, “hey tell me about when Jack got fired from Subway” or “Tell me about Jill getting in trouble for being late all the time”. Either someone is mistaken, or the BI acted outside of established protocol. Perhaps a new person not trained well? Especially since you mentioned a second BI.
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Especially if the BI was with another BI… that sounds like a BI supervisor conducting a checkride or training.
Keep in mind, many folks think we are aggressive when another person would not think twice about the same question.