Foreign Influence Question dating

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
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Question for the group…

I am being offered a job and will have to obtain a DOD TS Clearance. I am ex military (4 yrs active 6 years reserves) and that time i held a Secret clearance. I also held a TS/SCI CI Poly as a contractor for 7 years. Then i left to work a job outside of the DOD/IC world. Its been 7 years so and obviously my tickets have long since expired. I am now being offered a job and will have to go through the process again. My challenge now is that i am seriously dating an foreign national who works for a foreign friendly government (Argentina). She is here as a diplomat and obviously works closely with the US Government for non military reasons. We plan to live together and her long term goal would be to stay in the US. She has a brother and sister who are US citizens and have lived here their whole adult life. My GF owns a property as well. I realize my biggest issue is her employment with a foreign govt. I am juat wondering if it’s worth taking the job. What is the risk getting denied a TS. I have zero other issues… Clear record military, clear record civilian, no security issues when cleared and my credit is perfect. I know my situation is very unique but any help, advise or input welcome. I will of course be 100% honest on my SF 86…but my real concern is should i even risk it and take the job (leaving my current employer). Its a great career opportunity…

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TS. I have zero other issues… Clear record military, clear record civilian, no security issues when cleared and my credit is perfect.

Former contract investigator here. So, here’s my take.

I wouldn’t gamble on it if I were you.

I disagree with your assessment on Argentina and I’ll explain below. But first let me give you my take on the process.

After working a long time in the security clearance investigations field I have to admit that the whole process still seems opaque to me. I was never quite sure how much pull the employer/agency had in the process.

I was once told by someone that the investigation is just one necessary part of the clearance process but that an employer or granting agency or some other entity can just pull a lever and divert the clearance into a sort of limbo status forcing the applicant to ‘just move along’ without a clearance denial. I.e., you don’t even get a chance to appeal to DOHA (Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals).

Now, here’s where your situation becomes problematic for you in the near future. Argentina is seriously considering joining BRICs. While BRICs is, per se, an economic alliance it’s pretty much a truism that economic issues are national security issues.

If Argentina joined BRICs— or even participated is some loose affiliation with it— it would have ties to three countries on the ODNI high-threat list (India, China, and Russia) and in the near future another one, Iran, which has sought membership in BRICs.

Also, there was a bit of news out of the G7 conference today which makes Argentina’s movement towards BRICs seem slightly more likely. Apparently UK PM BoJo got into a heated exchange with Argentina’s president Alberto Fernandez over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. Aye-yai-yai, not this again. :man_facepalming: I once heard the Falkland Islands war described as “two bald men fighting over a comb.” But the Falkland Islands are very important to the Argentine people so I can imagine this little verbal dust up at the G7 will only push them away from the Anglosphere/EU and toward BRICs.

Lastly, the way things are going I would expect BRICs to look even better in 3 months, 6 months, a year from now.

There you have it. That’s my 2 cents.

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I say apply for the new job without quitting the old job. If you get the clearance then you have the choice to make. Plenty of good hardworking honest Americans get denied clearances for reasons that don’t necessarily reflect poorly upon them. A denial isn’t a total reflection of someone’s true lifetime character. It’s just a snapshot of one period of time.