I have a current (in scope but not actively using) TS/SCI with poly from Virginia Customer. I was offered a contractor job for a smaller 3 letter IC, also in Virginia. They have requested I fill out a new SF86 and CE forms as the new agency wants brand new forms. Are they just updating my records or are they going to do a whole new investigation?
This comes up from time to time, and the consensus seems to be that they want to have a fresh SF-86 for their records. As long as nothing has changed significantly, a new investigation probably will not be needed.
As far as “CE” forms go I am not familiar with that. I was simply enrolled in CE with no action on my part.
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same. I;m not even sure you need to submit an updated sf86 to enroll in CE/CV unless it’s part of a re-investigation (like 5 year RI).
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@clearedrob @clearedrob Thank you both for responding. For context, I am not currently enrolled in CE, and the program manager says that the new agency wants a new SF86, but it will take 3-6 months to process, which makes me think this isn’t normal for a crossover. When I asked the FSO, they said this is kind of what the Scattered Castles IC Agencies do sometimes.
The thing I’m worried about: What happens to my current clearance if the new agency opens a new investigation? Does it become voided?
Was responding to squirrel. For your question, yes, most IC agencies want their own sf86 and poly and in some cases, their own investigation. Each IC thinks the other agency’s BIs are incompetent.
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Depending on the IC agency, they seem to be all over the map when it comes to accepting reciprocity on previously closed investigations. The DoD in general will not have you submit a new SF-86 if your last one was within the last 5 years and you have not had a break in service for over 2 years. The NRO, NSA, an CIA seem to want overkill and apply extra restrictions on what they will accept from other agencies despite ODNI’s guidance. They seem to have no oversight or auditing mechanism to ensure they are following overarching policy when it comes to security clearances. The IC agencies only use Scattered Castles to record their investigations, and only whe they are completed, so no one ever knows if a submitted SF-86 actually kicks one off if they already have an investigation on file with another agency.
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@Marko Hey, thanks for your response. So if I’m reading this correctly, other IC agencies using scattered castles can’t actually see if an investigation is ongoing by NRO? The main reason I ask is that the company FSO I was speaking with seemed to think that having an “open” investigation might prevent me from being onboarded/indoc’d by other contractors using scattered castles and cautioned me with proceeding. I searched the forums here, and it seemed that people who had open investigations had problems getting their clearance activated by other agencies, but they were using DISS/JPAS. I’m really unfamiliar with this stuff, so any insight or clarification would be appreciated.
The main concern I have is that I don’t want to be locked out of other jobs from IC contractors while I wait for my NRO investigation to be completed and adjudicated. Also, do you know if NRO will take polys from the other overkill ICs you mentioned, or will they want a new one as well, even if I already have one at the same level from one of those other places?
@naughtypetey Hi, thanks for responding. I’m mainly applying for contractor positions, but I don’t know if that changes anything. If I’m reading what you said correctly, does that mean if I get an offer for a contractor job with Virginia Customer (where my clearance is currently, albeit not being used) I should be good to go even if NRO is doing their own investigation for a different contractor job? In otherwords, can agencies and contractors use previously adjudicated clearances even if you have an open clearance investigation for a different IC agency?
I always used to say, if you’re in the middle of an investigation you might as well stay put because you may not be able to move anyway. But I have heard of a couple people who managed to violate this “guideline” and switch jobs during that period (at least before the investigation was fully adjudicated).
I used to run into problems when I was a reservist and my clearance was been updated by the military. Even though I was “current” and “active,” on at least two occasions companies could not pick up my SCI because of the open investigation. That was some years back though, maybe things are improved now…
Although I tend to doubt it 
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@sbusquirrel Thanks! NRO hasn’t actually started the investigation yet. They’re just asking for the sf86 to start one, if I interpreted what my company FSO said correctly. Based on what you know about how finicky these things are, would you recommend just pulling out of the NRO contractor job just to be safe? I don’t want to be in a position where I’m stuck due to an ongoing investigation or unadjudicated info, and can’t onboard with another job.
Are you currently employed? (sorry if you stated earlier) If so then you can keep working while the NRO position plays out.
I used to work for an NRO contractor and we hired three people from a task we took over from another company. Two crossed over with no issues but the third had to get a new investigation. But he was able to keep working on another contract (for his previous employer) while he was waiting for things to sort out.
Does that help at all? Wonder what other opinions we might get here.
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@sbusquirrel I am not currently employed in a job using my clearance. I’ve been told my clearance is considered “current” in SC, and I’ve had it verified by multiple contractors, though. Currently, I have two offers for a job from different contractors. One is a contractor with Virginia Customer (I’ll call them Contractor A), while the other is a contractor working for NRO (Contractor B). Contractor A is the job I really want, but I have no idea when it will start, and I’m not sure continuing security processing with Contractor B will mess things up, since my clearance is already good to go at A.
Also, all of this is very helpful. I am extremely new to the workforce, so any information on what any of this stuff means is very useful to me. Thanks again.
@naughtypetey Hey, thank you for all that detailed info. I really appreciate it. If the CIA clearance is still “valid” while the NRO does an investigation, then I don’t really have a problem with it happening.
The main thing that gives me pause is that the FSO said having an open investigation might cause problems with contractors who work for agencies also using scattered castles. They said it shouldn’t be an issue for those using DISS, though. The way I interpreted that, they are saying that NRO wants a new SSBI. I’ll check with them again later in the week, just to get clarity and ask questions on what they mean, though, and update here. If they are doing another investigation, I’m kinda concerned with how long that would take. I have a very clean background (no arrests, drug use, foreign travel, ect), but my first clearance process still took more than a year. If it is an investigation, do you know if it will be treated as a first-time one, or if it will go quicker? Thanks!
@naughtypetey The existing clearance is still within the two-year window and will expire in 2027. The CIA investigation itself is less than 2.5 years old. Neither agency has an open investigation currently, but NRO wants to open one and has requested an SF86. Or at least that’s what I interpreted from what the FSO said.
I worked at the NRO as a Virginia customer contractor. I was forward deployed and I needed access to both the NRO and the Virginia customer computers. I also completed a new SF86 for the NRO at the time of hire with my company even though my Full Scope was active and I was on a Virginia Customer contract . I got hired and after 3 years the funding for the contract was pulled and I was looking for a new job.
I found a new job and when they tried to crossover my clearance to the new company with the same Virginia customer I got the unadjudicated information speech. The Virginia customer would not and did not tell me or my company anything else but start over. I did not get that job and for the next 6 months I was unemployed and looking for a sponsor. I found a sponsor and I had to go through a brand new investigation to include the poly and medical/psych just like I did when I did not have the clearance. After 10 months I got the clearance back but it was a long journey.
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logic tells us it should be fine to let the NRO (customer B) investigation happen. But customer A is anything but logical. My personal opinion, if you’re not desperate for contractor A job and really want the contractor B job, I would drop A and wait. BUT, that’s just me. You do you.
This has been a very enlightening thread because I always had the impression that security at NRO was almost like a wholly owned subsidiary of CIA and clearances would pass easily from CIA to NRO. Apparently this is not always the case!
NRO is a mix of DoD civilians, military, contractors, and CIA. I think that the security workforce at NRO is largely (60%? 50%? can’t say) CIA folks. But maybe that just makes them more suspicious 
Another topic I’m not clear on is when information gets updated to Scattered Castles (SC). I thought info only got pushed up when something is completed (as opposed to an initiated investigation), but who knows. SC has really grown from its original purpose which was a central repository for PKI info when the IC first started using them to authenticate/authorize users. But that was a long time ago and in this business everything gets more complicated and bigger over time.
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