I am an Army E-5 with 7 years service as an Intelligence Analyst. I submitted my periodic reinvestigation in October of 2013. (yes, 2013) I am now 3 months from separating out of the military, but my investigation is still open and active. My understanding is that my clearance will technically expire when I separate so, because of OPM’s incompetence, I will not be able to get a job in my field. My local Security Office has been absolutely no help in this situation. Any suggestions?
Speaking as a Former military FSO, I can tell you one or two things: It sounds doubtful you will get the interview in by the time you are discharged, maybe not, but doubtful if they know you are separating. You say the INV is still open and active. Is this what you know to be for sure or what your FSO (Security Office) told you? It’s possible, they just didn’t process or put a stop on it. However, it sounds like you have a TS, which will expire however, you will still be cleared for a secret. What I mean is, even if your TS, upon discharge is still valid it will go inactive for a period of one year unless it’s picked up by another agency. For a secret, it will be inactive and good for 2 years. So you will have a clearance one way or another even afar you sign your 312. So, it sounds like your TS is still valid. When you apply, just say you have an active TS based on a SSBI. If hired, they can reinitiate the investigation. So it’s not all bad however, being former military it might not be OPM but DoD. Question: how long is your TS good for date wise? Again, if your not using it for 1 year it will expire.
The Security Office uses JPAS to verify that there is an open active investigation. I have been checking every few weeks since October. My SSO has also checked for me and told me the same thing.
My clearance officially expired in Oct of 2013. It was explained to me that as long as I had an open and active investigation that I would not lose my access.
Yes, I have a TS/SCI. I would like to do the same job (SIGINT) when I leave but they all require an active TS/SCI - none are available at a Secret Level. I had planned to apply at the federal agencies, but know how much time that takes so I was going to apply as a contractor until the other went through.
And they also told me it is with the OPM, not the DoD. Apparently I am part of the backlog of cases when the OPM fired the contractors.
That’s true, if your in the military or other working agency and have an active TS/SCI, it can be expired however still in good standing until it’s renewed. It’s when you are discharged from the military or other agency then it becomes null and void.
and the reason they changed the provision on allowing people in positions which required a high level or other clearance (already cleared) was because in the late 90’s and early to mid 2000’s there were so many people with expiring clearances that everything would come to a standstill because they had such a backlog of investigations. But, if you got out of a job or the military it went to an expiration status…
It just seems ridiculous that I did everything right and will get penalized once I get out. And that there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.
Money and the fact the SSO or FSO knows the process of renewals and expirations (or should)…they are in no hurry to expedite the clearance through the channels and if they think or know you might be getting out it saves the Gov money they may just let EQUIP do it’s thing however they are the requesting official
Inv74 correct
A PR open since 10/2013 just does not sound right at all. Unless there were some issues that could not be resolved there is no way a case would be open that long.
Clearances do not transfer from one agency to another. When you leave one you are debriefed. When you arrive at another, they look to see if your last investigation was at the required level and favorably adjudicated. And has it been less than 24 months since you separated from the agency that requested the investigation and granted you a clearance. If the answer is yes to all, then they can grant you a clearance under reciprocity.
Regardless, once you separate you no longer have an active clearance, but you can put down on your resume’ that you did have TS/SCI under the appropriate employer and they will see when it was.
Yes, but every contracting job I have ever looked at will not do a full investigation. Unless you are in that two year window with an unexpired investigation, they will not hire you.
The way this situation was explained to me was that when I originally submitted the paperwork in Oct of 2013, it was lost. We discovered the mistake and re-opened the investigation in May of 2014. They opened it to the wrong office (my home state, not where I am currently stationed) and eventually transferred the investigation to the right place. Once it was here, the contracting company that did the investigations for OPM lost the contract. OPM investigators only worked on new clearances and did not touch the re-investigations because they were so short staffed. Now, even though there has been a new contractor hired for investigations, they are still so far behind that they are still only working on new investigations.
The Security Office here would try to get my case expedited, but feels that if OPM looks too closely, they will drop the investigation anyway because I am less than 12 months from getting out.
I am just going to have to apply with the federal agencies and hope that we don’t starve to death waiting for another investigation to be completed.
The only way the interview would have been scheduled to the wrong location is if you listed your location incorrectly on your sf86.
In my area they have OPM working all of the former USIS investigations while the contractors are working everything else. May be different in your area but I think OPM has taken responsibility for all of the USIS ones nationwide.
If your investigation is pending, which is sounds like it is, I believe new employer could take over sponsorship of your PR.
I have two current employers, one is Active Duty Army and the other is a job that I work seasonally when I am on leave. They didn’t look at my current address to see where I live.
In regards to the U.S Army and clearances, I can tell you with accuracy if you are separating from the military they most likely will not pursue the clearance. I talked to a friend of mine, active duty O6, who is about a year out from retirement and his FSO told him “they were not picking up the tab” for the cost of clearance when it was not needed due to his pending separation. He was just hoping to get his PR done so it would be good for another year after retirement for a job with DHS but with the costs involved of a clearance, budget cuts and such - MAJCOMs have issued directives on clearance renew concerning the military. He actually had his interview with the contractor that lost the contract however, it as contractor stated was assigned to another agency and it was the DoD (Army) who declined to pursue any further actions.