Clearance under adjudication

Hi, I’m a DoD civilian and National Guard member. I popped for marijuanna on a random drug test with the Guard about a year ago and didn’t realize I needed to report this for my Civ job and now as a result I’ve lost my base access and will be put on indefinite suspension in a few weeks pending the adjudication.

Prior to this I held a TS clearance but I only need a secret for my DoD job. I also had a chapter 7 BK that I reported in 2019.

My question is will one positive marijuanna test a year ago and a bankruptcy three years ago be enough to knock me from a TS to being unable to maintain a Secret? Those are the only two new events and I’m trying to be optimistic that at some point I’ll get my job back but I have no idea what my chances are.

Well hard to say the Chapter 7 will depend upon the circumstances since you reported the issue and there was no issue I would say you are OK.
Now for illegal drug use while holding a clearance not the smartest thing you have done. Did you not know it was not allowed?
Basically you showed very poor judgement, you used pot and thought you could get away with it.
How could you not know you had to report it? If I had to guess I would say you are going to be without a clearance for at least 3 years. They are going to ask you if you have done any illegal drugs and you will have to be honest once you hit 3 years I believe you are outside the window where they care.

I am an investigator and not an adjudicator so this is only an opinion but not reporting is a pretty big deal as far as I know and brings into question your integrity and suitability. I am not trying to be a downer, but you may need to start considering some other options.

As far as National Guard I absolutely knew I wasn’t allowed to use but I didn’t know it mattered for my DOD civilian job beyond that it wasn’t allowed on the base as it’s legal in the state so didn’t realize I needed to report the positive test on the civilian side. I’m guessing that 5 years ago in some orientation someone told me but like a lot of people I tend to sleepwalk through orientations.

Well hopefully other people will realize that a clearance is a federal item and the laws that cover it are all federal laws not state laws. I live in Colorado and a lot of college students were having issues with legal pot use. Now I believe it is a 1 year lookback, but you did not report something that was a violation/illegal. Why would you think it did not need to be reported or ask someone within your program what the answer would be. You are probably going to have an issue not for the pot use but the non-reporting.

I absolutely do not believe for a minute that you “did not know” it was not allowed or was not a reportable item for the DoD civilian job due to “not paying attention” in orientation “5 years” ago lol, the DoD requires annual training EVERY SINGLE YEAR and you were fully aware. This information is also readily available through all agencies’ security departments. Nice sentiment though. This investigator is calling BS.

Here’s another idiot who “didn’t know.” Unfortunately, he got his clearance back.

Make sure to mention during your inevitable investigation that you falsified signature forms, and that you didn’t actually complete the training.

You generally don’t seem very smart. Does someone drive you to work, since driving laws are about as simple as knowing that marijuana is illegal at the federal level? Does someone buy your groceries and pay your bills for you, since laws pertaining to those processes are also very simple?