I was recently submitted for a Secret clearance in 5/2017. About one month ago 8/2017 I was granted an interim clearance. One day after being granted the interim my clearance was “Administratively Withdrawn.”
After doing some research we discovered that the “US Citizen” box was not checked when my e-QIP was originally submitted by our FSO. (Our FSO was recently let go for various reasons related to overall poor performance). Our director of HR called the JPAS hotline and explained the situation, she was told to resubmit the e-QIP with the proper citizenship box selected and that the interim will be re-instated within 30 days.
Fast forward to 30 days later and my interim has come back as denied. Apparently our director of HR was misinformed; since I have never been granted a final secret before there is no way to fix this problem and I will not be able to have a clearance until my full investigation is complete and a final determination is decided.
This obviously poses a great inconvenience as it could take over a year for a final determination to come through. Do I have any recourse in correcting this since my interim was denied due to a clerical error, and my initial background check, credit check, etc. has come back clean and I was originally granted an interim.
There is the poor practice of candidates allowing (or being required to allow) others to type the security questionnaire (eQIP) responses for them. Even when I am told about this practice, and this is more common than many realize, you, the Subject, are still responsible for the information on the questionnaire - and you sign a declaration that it is true and complete.
Too much time is spent during the Subject interviews correcting the eQIP responses because Subjects, FSOs, companies, and federal agencies, treat the questionnaire as a burden. Missing information, poor information, incomplete information all add to your clearance delay.
Every time I am given the opportunity to brief security managers or FSOs, I stress the importance of completing the security questionnaire thoroughly, thoughtfully, carefully, and completely.
If you knew you were going to have a full audit from the IRS, would you only spend 30 minutes gathering information for your return and 30 minutes to fill out the return? Or would you do all the research yourself, check your work, and ensure everything was correct before you signed and submitted that return?
Did someone at your company fix the entry in the Citizenship field on the Person Summary section of your JPAS record? When your HR director called the DMDC Call Center he/she should have selected option 5 for Personnel Security Inquiry, not option 1 for JPAS. By selecting option 5 he/she could have spoken to someone who should be able to address your problem. Your SF86 (e-QIP) should clearly show US citizenship and your FSO would had to have verified your citizenship before submitting your SF86 via e-QIP. If the only glitch was the Citizenship data field in your JPAS record and if that has been corrected, a conversation with someone at the DSS, Personnel Security Management Office for Industry (PSMO-I) should favorably resolve this. By calling the DMDC Call Center and choosing option 5 your acting FSO should be able to be connected to someone at PSMO-I who can restore the interim clearance.
Thank you very much for your informative response. We followed the process that you recommended and the interim clearance was reinstated. Thank you again for your help in resolving this matter!
I’m glad you got your interim clearance restored quickly. Sometimes the government can be reasonable and responsive to the needs of individuals, but it’s helpful if you know the proper method of resolving a problem. The director and her staff at PSMO-I provide very good service despite their fiscal limitations. I hope you and your company will keep me in mind if you need any assistance regarding security clearances in the future.
Regard,
Bill Henderson
Federal Clearance Assistance Service