Hi, I am a military personnel presently serving in US Army Reserves (USAR). To obtain Military service suitability determination (MSSD), I had to undergo SSBI verification along with CI, which I passed, and thus finally obtained a FAVORABLE MSSD, an year ago, in August 2018. Could you please let me know if I possess at present an Active Top Secret/SSBI clearance. In one of the Army Human Resource websites, it shows that my clearance status as Interim SSBI clearance. Please let me know what clearance level status precisely am I entitled to ?
I never heard of MSSD but it sounds like you have an interim SSBI, which means you are eligible for (not entitled to) access to TS information, assuming your job requires it. For example, all the background investigators have that same type of background investigation, but they do not have a “clearance” because their job does not require that they have access to classified information. Other people may have an SSBI making them eligible for TS but they are in a job that only requires access to Secret, so they do not have a TS clearance even though they are eligible.
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If you did not sign a NDA (if you don’t know the term, you didn’t sign one), you don’t have an “active” TS clearance. You are probably eligible for access if you successfully completed the Tier 5 (or former SSBI).
Thank you for the clarification. Now I got a clear idea what “interim” specifically mean. So, does that mean clearance status level is awarded officially only through a employer who offers a job requiring clearance, even though I am all CLEARED (SSBI Investigation) to have one ? Also if I join a job requiring clearance, can my employer skip the process of sponsoring me for clearance (by conducting investigations) and give me the clearance status right away (because I already cleared SSBI) ?
This all made me curious so I decided to do a little googling. I found a memo dated 13 Oct 2017 from someplace in DoD talking about this. I did a search for “mssd suitability” and it was the first item on the list.
The last paragraph of the memo says something like, if the background investigation is completed but the subject is not yet a citizen, then there will be an annotation in their JPAS record saying that the individual is not yet eligible for access to classified information.
I already got my US Citizenship.
NDA usually mean Non-disclosure Agreement. So, in case my employer makes me sign a NDA after joining a job requiring clearance, can I get clearance status (Security or TS) right away without going through the investigation process once again (because I already cleared SSBI) ?
How do you know this?
If you had an active TS you would know. Does your job in the USAR require a TS?
Every military personnel undergoes SSBI upon enlistment & needs to get a FAVORABLE SSBI in order to go to Military Training. No, my job doesn’t require TS clearance, still as I said, EVERY ONE who completes training and serving in military can be EXPECTED to have SSBI clearance.
What is the source of this information? AFAIK T5 investigations replaced SSBI years ago and are required for TS/SCI or SAP access. Not everyone that gets a T5 gets TS clearance though.
NOT everyone enlisted in US military components, ONLY the NON-CITIZENS, including Green-card holders, need to undergo and get favorable SSBI clearance (in order to verify their background, foreign influences etc…). I enlisted through a program named MAVNI, which is ENDED permanently by the US Congress now, and the mandatory paperwork for MAVNI enlistees included SF-85/SF-86.