I recently received my final TS clearance and have heard that it’s possible for someone to request the records of their investigation through the FOIA process.
Is there any harm in doing this? Is this considered to be suspicious or undesirable behavior?
I’m curious and might like to make the request but not if it’s looked down on in any way.
Thanks in advance for any information/comments on this topic!
No, it is not bad. It is even encouraged.
Ok, I will play devil’s advocate.
Yes, this is the official line. Rest assured that you will never know how it might adversely affect you. The biggest tip off that you might be suspect is to be curious about what “they” know about you. From criminal cases to counterintelligence cases.
I worked in national security in the federal government and as much as I was curious about what coworkers had to say about me I would never consider putting in a FOIA request on myself.
Whereas I have occasionally requested my ROIs over the last 40 years and have never had any issues or concerns.
Any errors in the ROIs were normally minor and did not impact the outcome in the least. The most amusing was the ROI that had my military team mates’ names redacted - there were only four of us on that specific team so i already knew their names anyways;
The reports are rather boring to be honest; FOIA requests are not encouraged but only because the process costs DoD and OPM money. Also, the staff is not very large to contain costs.
I agree. I’m curious but I’ve been doing this long enough to know that I really don’t want to know what others say about me. If I got the clearance it’s enough. Good, Bad, Ugly, etc. It really means nothing in the long run. However, if I was denied I would definitely request it.