Clearance Discontinued

I got an email from a recruiter at the IC agency that I applied for saying my processing was “discontinued” and that they couldn’t say the reason why, that I can reapply in a year. Is there any appeal rights on a discontinued clearance or it has to be “denied” before there are any appeal rights also I requested records on it through the FOI/PA acts from the agency, will I hopefully receive the reasoning behind it through that process, and do I have to disclose about the discontinued clearance when filling out any future clearance forms should I reapply in a year, as they told me in the discontinuance email

Typically a discontinue is either on the applicant/subject side (i.e. the applicant didn’t submit documentation by a deadline, etc.) or on the employer side. There is no way to appeal a discontinue as one would appeal a denial.

No, you don’t. You didn’t receive a denial. More than likely, you know why they stopped processing. If you have had any type of contact with drugs in the past year or financial issues of any kind they will and can stop processing.

There could also be bureaucratic, mission, or budgetary reasons beyond the OP’s control, ie the job itself doesn’t exist anymore, or the mission changed… But to the OP - they withdrew the COE (which you do not have to report in future), they did not deny you a security clearance (which you DO have to report in future)

This is true too. Sometimes the position gets filled or the job is no longer available. Most often though if you are competitive they will keep you going through the process and offer you another position.

i have a feeling but wont know for sure until i get the records from the privacy act. I had neither issues you mentioned no drug issues & no financial issues

Thanks for the insight

The FOIA wont tell you why they stopped processing. It will only be the records that pertain to you, which is the stuff you submitted to them. If you took a poly, those results would be included as well but there wont be any notes or anything like that.

It is also possible that they stopped processing because the position was no longer available or something like that. If that is the case it might not show up in a FOIA/PA request.

But frankly the part about ‘you can apply again in a year’ does kinda sound like there was a security issue, unless that is standard verbiage they tell everyone.

If it was from the IC agency in Maryland I believe that is the letter they issue for suitability denials (ie poly or psych failure ) or no longer being considered “competitive”

Update: Today I received a certified restricted delivery letter from NSA one page in length detailing the reason for discontinuance, the reasoning it is what I thought it would be

No information on any appeal process? And did it restate that you can apply again in a year?

Thanks for the update.