Have done both and got the same thing from both. Senator has done more but from what my fso said it’s all in the governments hands now and they haven’t been able to do much
Sorry to hear that. Very frustrating. Just hang in there. Hopefully it will be done soon
Your timeline is nearly matching mine; however, I started since July 3 2017. October, I contacted the congressman office in my state, and I got called for interview couple weeks later. Nov/Dec, references were called and interview. Then, I waited since December. March, I contacted the congressman office again (in the state that I’m moving too), got an interview with 2nd investigator couple weeks later. Now, still waiting, investigation is till open & pending. The wait is not ended yet.
Is this for Secret or TS? If so that’s crazy. I guess I should call my congressman’s office. It seems like that did something for you at least.
You’re honestly just in the beginning phase.
Secret clearances appear to be taking between 12 months and 15 months to be completed if you were submitted prior to end of Q3 in 2017. For some reason (I suspect, based on the posts in the investigator forum that this is due to an increase in BI personnel in the last half of 2017) there has been a sharp decrease in timelines. I’ve seen a few people cleared in 6 months or less who submitted SF-86 at the end of 2017.
Today marks 12 months exactly for myself. My credit and a few of my references were contacted in the summer of 2017 and I was granted Interim clearance on August 10th 2017. I have not had an interview yet.
My wife’s secret took about a year and she was never even interviewed. Nobody contacted about her. She had a squeaky clean, no foreign contacts, no foreign travel (at that time), clean as it can be sf-86. And that still took a year.
I didn’t contact my congressman until very recently. And there is very little they can even do. Basically all they can do is ask OPM what’s taking so long. OPM has yet to even respond to my congressman’s office (over 2 weeks now).
My advice to you is to not fret about it. Continue working where you are as if you never even applied for a clearance. Or if you’re a student, go out and find work as if you never had a clearance. It could take even longer. There is no rhyme or reason to this process. It is quite broken and should be fixed, but it’s what we’re stuck with for now.
Initial T3 (Secret).
Holy cow, that’s insane. The only thing that’s making me nervous is the fact that I’ve had close friends, with much “worse” backgrounds, get cleared in 4-8 months, no interim. A friend of mine got his in October 17’. He submitted in Feb 17’.
I haven’t been called yet, and my credit was pulled very close after submitting fingerprints. I also forgot to mention that in November/December 17’, my current boss was contacted and given a form to fill out for my Secret Clearance, but I haven’t had any info since.
On another note, since I’m in the process of getting my clearance due to a job offer that is contingent on the clearance getting granted, would it be okay to get another job in the meantime? Where I’m at currently isn’t cutting it, and I’m not sure if getting a new job in-between my current job and my new prospective one would mess anything up.
Happens all the time. I’m on my second job since submitting my SF-86. I’m an engineering contractor and go where the work is. My offer is contingent upon attaining a T3 Secret clearance. That’s all that really matters. The investigator will see that I’m at a different place of work right now than from when I submitted but it happens quite often. They understand that someone can’t sit idle for a year sometimes more just waiting for a job to happen.
As to the experience your friends had. Keep in mind every situation is different. They may have been cleared through different agencies. The state department for instance does not use OPM. They do everything internally themselves. OPM deals with all DOD clearances and the BI of their own investigators or contractors who are investigators. Some requesting agencies will sometimes expedite certain individuals who are a special need.
As most others on this blog have noted in the past. Pretend like you never even submitted, continue living your life. That way you don’t stress yourself out. Peak in here every so often to see where people are, get in touch with your point of contact with whoever you’re hiring with about once a month just to remind them you’re interested and to inquire about your status in JPAS. That’s about as much as you can do. Contacting your congressman/senator at this point will probably not produce anything. They may just tell you it’s a known issue and to wait your turn. Most are willing to help and will just ask you to fill out a privacy release form.
I know it’s frustrating. I get frustrated because this is impacting my personal life due to having to work out of town right now, and because the compensation would be much much better once I’m cleared. Just keep your head up.
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On the note getting another job, I don’t think it would be an issue because the BI would just ask you have anything change since you submit the SF86, and you can just give them the updates. As long as you wasn’t getting disciplinary discharged from you current employer, it can’t go against you when questioned by the BI. I started doing Uber on the weekends why I was waiting, and I told them on my latest interview. Goodluck.
I got a phone call from my interviewer/investigator last week and another one from another interviewer/investigator this week. So does this mean we’re still in the investigation phase or the adjudication phase?
You don’t think it would be an issue with my prospective employer? They’re the guys getting me the clearance, I want to work there after everything is said and done.
I understand your point, and I am thinking the same way once my clearance is granted. They offered you a non-binding tentative offer contingent of final security clearance. I don’t see why it would be an issue if you find another job working while waiting for your security clearance to come through because technically you are not their employee yet, and they ain’t paying the bills while you are waiting for clearance. In some cases, the employer can cancel the offer in the middle of the security clearance process or put your start date on hold after you receive your clearance. I’m not saying all employer are that flip-flop, but ‘smart’ ones always have a clause in your tentative offer that gives them a ‘non-binding’ option.
If you current job doesn’t working out, simply find another one and start working to pay the bills. You just need to update to the BI (if being interview) of your current job status and the reason why and make sure you capture it next time you need to fill out SF86 for re-investigation. I actually asked the BI this question about job change in my recent interview.
However, unless you are picking up another job that requires security clearance in which it requires them the transfer the current investigation to the new employer’s sponsorship, you then might lose some points with the one that initially offered you the job and sponsor the security clearance. If you search & read some other topics on this forum, people do talk about job change and security clearance transfer from one agency to another or employer from one to another.
Update on my timeline T3 (Secret):
4/24/2017: Submitted SF-86
Mid summer 2017: Credit Pulled and one reference contacted
8/10/2017: Interim granted
Silence
4/4/2018: Contacted Congressman
4/16/2018: BI Completed by OPM/NBIB and forwarded to DOD adjudication
4/25/2018: Congressman staff calls to inform me of update provided to them by OPM
Almost there now!
Tim, did you sign a privacy act release form when you reached out to your congressman?
Yes. It is a very standard congressional form they have most people sign whenever a constituent asks to have their congressman/woman make an inquiry on their behalf with any executive branch agency. It’s just one page with some basic information. They’ll ask what the inquiry is about. Just write in that you’re inquiring about the delays with OPM and the status of your personal clearance.
On the surface it appears that all a congressional aide can really do is make a FOIA request on your behalf. But I think there is a little more behind the scenes that happens. I think they’re able to gleen a little more information. But this is just my speculation.
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I kept getting follow up interviews with my investigator. I thought I was still in the investigative stage, but it must have been follow up stuff for adjudication. I got cleared 2 or 3 weeks after that last interview. They just needed to get a few more contacts that know my foreign national I listed on my forms. They called my contacts a week after I gave them their info and I was cleared a week or two after that.
When did your investigation start?
My e Qip was submitted November 2016. Just received my secret clearance this month and the start date is April 30, 2018.
June 2016 for TS/sci initial for dod contractor
When was your interview and when did it close out?