First, I apologize if these questions have been asked and answered.This is a helpful site and I am thankful for it, as without it, I think I would’ve have lost my sanity.
1.) If someone is finally cleared for TS/SCI (presumably after a long time), but the sponsor retracts/cancels the billet for whatever reason, does that clearance still remain with the individual? Can the individual use it to apply for other positions?
2.) If someone is finally cleared for TS/SCI (again, presumably after many months/yrs), and the sponsor issues a FO, does the individual HAVE to accept the position? If the individual chooses not to accept the position, does his/her clearance go away? Or would the individual still be able to keep it?
Thanks in advance, as always!!
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Clearance does not remain with the person, but the position. However, you still retain eligibility. The individual can use the eligibility to apply for position requiring similar clearance or lower. The eligibility has to be “activated”/“used” within 2 years. Whether the eligibility is within scope or not, is something you will need to ask your security manager.
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It depends on the tentative offer. Usually, tentative offers do not contain a binding clause that will mandate you to accept job when a final offer (FO) is issued. Again, clearance does not remain with the person, but the position. However, the individual retains his/her eligibility.
Just pay attention to who is the sponsoring agency. If you are accepting a different position with the same agency that sponsored your clearance, you shouldnt have any problem. However, if you are taking the job with an agency that did not investigate and favorably adjudicate your clearance, it might not be as esay.
For instance, you were favorably adjudicated with Department of Defense (DoD) and you decided to take a position with Department of Energy (DoE). DoE might give you a run for your money even though you were favorably adjudicated for the same clearance level with DoD. Clearance reciprocity should work flawlessly, but it has litany of problems. Just keep that in mind.
My advice, read the terms and conditions of the final offer… take that job A and let the process plays out with the job B… make sure the job B is absolutely set… then leave job A for job B.
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Thank you! I did not know clearance was tied to the position (bummer!) - that’s hugely significant when trying to decide what path to take, given the interminable length of the process and the fact that we hardly (if at all) receive credible status updates. However, it looks like we can somewhat work with the “eligibility” factor if that situation were to come to pass. It’s nonsensical that clearance reciprocity is not recognized or stream-lined; it would be so much more efficient for everyone.
Will keep all this in mind. Again, many thanks!
In actually, it doesn’t matter if the clearance goes with the position or the person, not in any personal sense anyway. What matters is that you retain your ability to fill a position that requires the same level of clearance. When you think about it, it comes down to the “need to know” part of clearance. If you are not working in a cleared position, you have no need to know at all. So, you have no access to any information. When you accept another position, you then have a need to know that gives you access to the new employers information. You no longer have access to information from your previous employer.
I think that I started to ramble to there . . . Much more than I intended . . .
I recently just finished the investigation process and I learned that there were no open billets for me to enter. Does anyone know a possibly timeline for when a billet might open up?