Applying after suitability denial

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

Hi, I was working at a tech company, and my client (IC in MD) desponsored my clearance (no poly taken yet). My manager said no specific reason was provided since it wasn’t a denial, and I will have my eligibility back after 12 months. Is this true? Off the record, they said, “I have too many things to investigate.”

It sounds like the same thing will happen even if I move to a different company. So, I’m considering applying to an IC agency directly after I get my eligibility back and working there for a while. Is that a bad idea?

I have TS/SCI + CI poly from DoD and thought just adding a lifestyle poly would grant FSP, but I guess things are more complicated :frowning:

Here are my possible red flags:

  • I was raised in one of the ally countries and have a handful of foreign contacts (but born in the US)
  • I used to be a dual citizen: I renounced the other citizenship before joining the Army.
  • Voted once when I was living in the allied country
  • My parents are not U.S. citizens. They had a green card back then, but they moved back to their homeland a while ago and no longer have a green card.
  • Smoked Marijuana once 14 years ago
2

I’ve never heard of that, but I’m not an expert. Do you mean “suitability?” If so, then that’s a problem. If not, then it sounds like more of an internal company issue.

If you still have your clearance and your suitability, you should be able to apply for a cleared job. I think you can go up to a year without a cleared job before the clearance expires.

On a personal note, if my understanding above is correct, I would get away from that company ASAP. If you’re TS cleared, you should not have much trouble finding something else.

3

Well, no document says ‘suitability’, one of my friends said “It sounds like a suitability denial” and I assumed so. That company terminated my employment, but my DoD clearance is fine. I’m working at a different company, but I was curious about future FSP possibility since all the large tech companies require FSP.

4

If you lost your suitability, then yeah, you won’t be able to work -at least for that agency again (cleared or not) until you regain it. Not sure about other agencies but I wouldn’t count on it. You should find out for sure.