I was recently denied a TS-SCI for a DoD contract employer. I have never held a clearance and this was my first time applying. After receiving the Statement of Reasons (SOR) I had hired a lawyer to help gather as much mitigating information as possible and submitted a written appeal. Several months later, I was still denied cleared status and was presented with these options:
Request personal appearance (I assume DOHA)
Submit yet another written appeal
Do nothing. My denial letter clearly states that the one year period of ineligibility was waved after an adverse security determination, and I am eligible for a re submission contingent on employer needs… blah blah blah
I chose option 3. 30 days later, I believe my case ended with a “loss of jurisdiction” due to no action. I decided it wasn’t the time or place for me to continue fighting this and wasn’t able to financially do so. So my question is, if I were to try again to get a clearance in the future from a new employer, would I face significant barriers? I have a read about a “red flag” due to LoJ that an employer (FSO?) would see. Is it likely that I would have such a flag on my name? It is unclear to me whether an “incident report” would be submitted by my employer from “termination” (I never started the job, but had accepted the offer, started onboarding, etc.) Is this a clear cut answer or may I be looking at a best case/worst case scenario?
I’m in a particular situation as u are but! I haven’t heard anything back of my SOR since December. If you don’t mind me asking what was the SOR. What guideline?
Your mistake was in quitting, in my opinion. Without knowing what was on your SOR or what legal advice you were given it’s difficult to say.
You had two options after you responded to your SOR. You could have requested a hearing where you and the government would present your arguments to an administrative law judge and he would render a decision. Or, you could request a hearing “on the written record” where the government would submit a FORM (File Of Relevant Material) listing the reasons that you should not have a clearance and then you, and your lawyer, would produce a written response. The judge would then render a decision based on those two briefs.
It certainly may be that you had too big a hurdle to get over at this time. You need to address whatever issues were raised in your SOR and get things cleaned up. If it’s financial, get on payment plans, get some financial counseling and clean up your credit. If it was past drug use, keep your nose clean and separate yourself from the people that you were doing drugs with. If it’s something else, look at those mitigating factors in the guidelines and figure out ways to mitigate your particular issues.
You may have a hard time finding another company willing to sponsor you for a clearance. At least for right now. You will be required to tell them that you were denied and, yes, this will be a red flag. Companies invest time, energy and money in getting your clearance and they don’t want to waste it.