Clearance pulled over brief lapse in employment?

After working for 5 months in a job that I never should have taken, I was let go in late June. Prior to that position, I was working at Secret although DOD granted me TS in March, 2018. My original clearance was FS poly, I really wanted to use the TS and the ill fated job got my SCI reinstated. I ended up taking a job in another state and had to use my own money to move. I had to retake Security+ in order to start the job. It’s much harder than it was in 2016 and it took me 3 times to pass (Moving and studying for Sec+ don’t go together). So I finally pass and the recruiter tells me he’s starting to process my clearance. A few days later he calls me freaking out and tells me I basically don’t have a clearance although the initial JPAS went through just fine. I was told several different things such as I’ll have to start over, I’ll have to have a conversation with the governments FSO and finally that this was due to a ‘brief lapse in employment’ possibly due to the Security+ or just that it takes . They are supposed to have some kind of answer on Oct. 9 which is about a month. I was honest about getting fired. This is extremely stressful as I’m still paying a hefty mortgage on a house I’m not living in, basically 2 sets of bills and now a high debt load over having to move with credit cards. I’m living off an investment account and it’s getting low. Is this Peak 2020 or is this kind of stuff normal?

You clearance does not stop for a short gap. There is more to this story.

When did you last use your clearance?

Why were you fired? If it was clearance related, that could be it.

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So…your clearance was last used is late 2018, early 2019. That’s not a brief lapse.

And were you let go or fired? Let go implies you were laid off.

Isn’t today October 6?

You moved out of state for a job. I imagine it’s for the new cleared job, otherwise you wouldn’t be complaining about your bills. If that’s the case, you absolutely screwed up, regardless of any ideal clearance processing scenario your new FSO told you. Maybe you didn’t know, but even transferring an active clearance can be a huge pain. Regardless, you should know how complicated the process is after having already gone through a TS and FS poly. This isn’t peak 2020, this is peak irresponsibility.

I certainly hope you never have to live with osteoarthritis, need a hip replacement and decide to move for health reasons (and it worked), but you go on about how irresponsible I am. You seem to be a stellar human specimen.

I last used my clearance in June. I used it constantly from July 2016 until I left the position that I shouldn’t have taken. The only reason I was hired was my clearance. I had no experience in the technologies they were using. Live and learn.

It’s not from this.

You never addressed why you were fired/let go.

It could also be the clearances didn’t match.

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I was fired because I was not producing any work. I can handle learning one or two new technologies and actually enjoy learning new things but this project was very fast paced (DevOps) and I pretty much had zero experience in most of it. I was hired at a Senior Lead level with no experience. You can’t lead other people if you don’t have anything to give them. I won’t even entertain another position like that one. I look for jobs that are looking for fewer years of experience than I actually have. I’m pretty much a jack of many trades, master or none. I’ve helped the government keep legacy projects up and running. The new job which they are holding for me while the government does their thing is pretty much right up my alley.