Are You Experiencing Security Clearance Processing Delays?

I have and it’s real quick they will tell you over the phone.

I was talking to a fellow person and stated guideline F took 1.5 years to get. To me that was way too long. I’m just worried something has gone wrong.

In 7 days will be my year mark. I would love it within 6 months I could get my full clearance. 18 months now doesn’t seem that bad anymore. lol.

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If the candidate decides not to take the job and the candidate’s clearance was granted clearance, the candidate will need to activate/use that clearance within specific time frame (usually within 2 years) otherwise the candidate will need to go through the process from scratch.

Reciprocity of clearance is a funny business. By various executive orders, agencies are directed to reciprocate clearances. However, if you read this forum, you will realize not all agencies do honor clearance granted from other agencies, this especially true if there is a crossover from one dept to another (ie. DoD to DoS or vice versa). Security clearance process as it is truly sucks.

Security clearance is a valuable commodity and very marketable. After granted clearance, you shouldn’t have trouble landing a job with a government contractor. Hell, government contractors will pay pretty penny to get you on-board. The same cannot be said for government agencies, but you probably will receive job interviews/offers. Nonetheless, job hopping is a norm in the clearance industry.

EOD date is negotiable unless it is at least a month out. Nonetheless, I would take the job if I were you then look elsewhere. Ultimately, you ought to do what is best for you.

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So I talked to one of my creditors today and I am not going to get my tax return on time to pay this Creditor off before the full amount. Yet I haven’t heard anything back from my security clearance. So I’m guessing this will be effected of me not paying this back right away They’re not willing to take a minimum payment they are not willing to Resolute anything unless what it is I myself I don’t know what to do at this point so could this cost me my security clearance and if I don’t pay at a certain amount at one time. THEY want me to pay $2,000 a month for this bill after the settle amount of a lesser value. Haven’t heard anything back from the Sor I sent in December so I do not know if they’re going to be following up again on this or are they just going to not have this at all it is not showing up in my credit report but it isn’t the due amount that I have to pay back on the original sor i sent then.

What now?

Do you know if there is anything in writing from OPM or NBIB about 1 year mark? Somehow I was told that investigation can’t take more than 1 year … I might be wrong … I’m not sure if it is for re-investigation or else but a current TS told me.

There is no “one year limit” . . .

I didn’t really understand your last couple sentences. Was this debt brought up in the SOR or no? How did you address this financial debt in your SOR? Did you say you were working on it, or you haven’t addressed it yet? If it wasn’t brought up in the SOR it probably won’t be brought up during this process. I know that sometimes at the SOR phase they will run your credit again (they did for me). If they do run your credit again and see this debt there is a chance an adjudicator could reach out to you asking about this. Then you would have to just explain the situation as you told us. You can’t afford 2 grand a month and you will start paying once you get your taxes. That’s all you can do.

As I understand it, by the time you get an SOR, adjudication is done. You are offered two forms of hearing both of which are decided by an Administrative Law Judge. They can run credit again pretty much anytime that they want. There can be issues on your SOR that didn’t come up in your investigation. For example, if you stop paying your mortgage after your investigation is closed, the foreclosure action can certainly come up on your SOR.

I think that there needs to be more clarity about what goes on at what stage, when you receive an SOR, what it means, what your responses can/should be, what a FORM is, how you respond to that, who is making decisions when, based on what and so on.

I would be happy to create a thread and layout my understanding of the process but it might be better if a moderator were to do this as I don’t want to propagate more errors.

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I have addressed all my financial concerns to DOD caf but I ran my credit score and still paying on the ones that are not showing on my credit currently. But DOD CAF finds it be an unsettled debt still.

Could you please create a thread on this so I can understand this.

I don’t know exactly. Remember the date you submitted your SF86 versus when OPM actually opened up the case are two different things. I submitted EQUIP on March 9, 2017 but my investigation did not open until May 6, 2017.

Well - they cancelled my job due to the background taking so long (400 days). I had to call them to find this out and then the HR person with DOD argued with me and said she sent me a certified letter to my address in which the PO said they delivered to an individual on a day/time when I would have been at work. I live alone! I requested a copy of the signed return receipt and they’ve failed to send to me. So now I’m wondering where she mailed the letter containing my PII. She also said she called me and told me this on the phone - I’ve never talked to this women in my life! I don’t know what’s going on with DOD HR at Ft. Bragg, but I’m certainly not very happy with the incompetence. In addition, I’ve never received anything from the FSO telling me they cancelled/denied/cleared my background. I did contact the Senator’s office late last year to look into the background holdup, signed their forms and then haven’ heard a peep out of them either. I’ve lost a two grade promotion because of this fiasco. The only reason the FSO wouldn’t give me an interim is because of a credit issue that was already six years old and part of my divorce in which I had a judgement against my ex for. My credit is excellent even with that on there. Beyond frustrated at the mercy of ???

I don’t believe that interim clearances are issued by FSOs . . .

If you can find another company to take over your application for clearance, you may not have to start over.

I’m certainly sorry that you have had these problems but at 400 days, you’re right in there with what many of us have dealt with.

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After answering two sets of follow-up questions regarding Guideline (F) for a TSC/SCI, I would recommend doing the following if you haven’t done so already:

  1. Review your credit report.
  2. Dispute any incorrect/invalid information for all 3 bureaus and make note of what you did.
  3. Ensure you have a system in place to:
    a) Keep current, make payments on time. I was 30 days late for one credit card for one month (two years ago), and I was asked why I was late. For me, it was lack of organization.
    b) Develop and stick to a budget.
  4. I have a discharged Ch 7 after the financial crisis and was able to speak to: financial counseling, required, but still a good idea in my opinion, budgeting, prioritizing bills, contacting creditors to make payment arrangements, and living within/below means as a result of this action. I currently have no revolving debt and am current on loans.

As they say “everyone’s got something” – just do something about your something. Be prepared, because you may be asked about these kinds of things either during your interview and/or during adjudication. For some questions, I wanted to give a full answer, so wrote down the question, thought about it, did a little research into my records and got back to them.

Fingers Xed on this 400th day!

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The FSO is the one who told me she couldn’t grant the interim. I did just interview with a contractor with DOD and they basically said due to the length of time since the background portion was closed, I’d have to start all over. Yes, I agree on the time frame - but this is only for a Secret, I think most everyone is TS and other higher clearances. I already have a Public Trust and have had this for years; in the military I had TS. It’s absolutely ridiculous and then no communications. I have no idea if there is or was a problem as I’ve received nothing. As of right now my case could still be in pending status – who knows.

OPM conducts quality control audits on a certain percentage of investigations to ensure investigators are accurately reporting and are actually conducting the checks they say they are. When you say answers don’t match, what does that mean and how do you know that? If OPM finds items completed by the investigator were erroneous then the investigation may be reopened.

What exactly happened between point A and point B? We need more information to help you out

Not true. I contacted the freedom line and was told that my investigation has been closed last month.

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Thanks for the info!
I’ll try to contact them soon. What’s the phone number please…