Anxious about clearance

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

I’m currently in the early stages of the clearance process and already completed my SF-86 and a follow-up interview. I’ve been feeling a bit anxious about a few things in my background and was hoping to hear if others have had similar experiences:

  1. A misdemeanor DUI 5 years ago
  2. Experimental drug usage (cocaine, lsd, marijuana, ecstasy, adderall) 5 years ago
  3. A casual foreign friend I met online and chat with occasionally (met a year ago)
  4. Zero debt or financial problems

The DUI and drug use happened when I was 18-20 years old.

I’m hoping that the all this time mitigates those issues but it would be nice to see other opinions.

2

Of the four items you list (well, three) I think the only one that might attract scrutiny is #3.

Some customers (the agency sponsoring your clearance) will be more uptight about this than others.

3

Yea during my background interview, I told my investigator I was willing to drop the contact if needed.

Do you think that would carry any weight in the investigation?

4

Probably not. Were there a lot of questions on this issue?

5

Not really. I disclosed that I met them on a language learning app. They asked the frequency of contact, and I mentioned once or twice a month.

6

Sounds like it did not raise any red flags then. :wink: