I think I may have messed up my security clearance…
Two arrests . . . Ten arrests . . . There is no count that will disqualify you each will be looked and then the summation of all will be looked at for adjudication. It’s difficult to believe that you didn’t understand the difference between being charge and being convicted. This isn’t old Soviet Russian where they could tell that you were guilty because you had been arrested. We don’t hold “show trials” here. So, that doesn’t look good but people do make mistakes on these forms all of the time. The investigators are trained to get as much of the truth as possible. If you leave a door open, they will come in and poke around but it doesn’t mean that you will be denied.
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Having a domestic violence end up as “only battery” because you were arguing…doesn’t’ pass the logic test. Battery is violence. Physical contact. Assault on the other hand can be just verbal and various municipalities call it different things: assault consummated by battery, mutual affray, etc. I don’t think the juvenile charge will be an issue but I have seen where they believe a person is concealing information on adult charges. But if you cleared them up to the satisfaction of the BI person you likely will get through.
Thanks for the explanation but that was kind of a rude answer. I dont get in trouble often and I come from the private sector so the only time I’ve had to use this term was recently as my 1st arrest I was a child and handled by my parents and my second arrest was almost 10 years ago. Legal terms are not something people sit around and use every day. Regardless it was a mistake on my end that I didnt have to hide. I didnt understand… thank you for the response.
Ok. I may have used the wrong word but it was dropped to a lesser charge I guess assault. Long story short we never went to court and the case was dismissed. I’m not great with the legal verbiage as you can see.
Oh and sorry we did got to court pled not guilty. When we went to follow up the case had been dismissed by the court. Not sure how but it was on their record also
I’m not here to be rude or to coddle anyone. As an adult and as an applicant for a security clearance, it’s actually your responsibility to know what has happened to you in the past. When you submitted you forms, your signed them, swearing to the accuracy of your statements. People make mistakes all of the time but this is the type of thing that happens when you make a mistake because you weren’t careful enough to understand what you are swearing to. You’re 35 years old . . . it’s no surprise that the investigator expected you to know the difference.
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NS, clearance forms are nothing to swiftly fill out, check no, no, no and move on. One needs consider the implications of what they are swearing to and what they are affirming is truth. I would recommend getting a copy of the court records and using their exact words when filling out the SF86 or talking to the BI person. Accuracy matters. If one misspeaks it can be construed they tried to play an important item down or conceal it. 25 years ago it was not hard to evade bench warrants in one state for driving issues. As everything went computerized…not so much. One may forget certain things and get a pass. Other things, important things like arrests not so much.
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