Im in an interesting situation. I had to fill out an SF86 in june 2016 for an internship which I was basically spotless other than a sealed record for petty theft as a minor. (I did not report this on this SF86 until I did more research that sealed even as minor means I still must report it. This event was added onto my new SF86 a year later which is explained as you read along). The contract lasted summer of 2016. I was unemployed for a month then recontracted for Aug-Dec of 2016. In September I was arrested for dui. I had contacted the security individual at my internship about the incident and he stated to be honest with the federal investigator during the interview. Thats fine with me. The internship ended in Dec 2016. For a year I went private industry from Dec 2017 to July 2017 where no clearance was needed as this job was unrelated to DoD. Afterwards I am hired for federal position in August 2017 until now. I had to redo the whole process for SF86 in june 2017 and this time I filled out the information about the DUI and petty theft. Anyways fast forward to being interviewed with the investigator recently, he had the OLD SF86 from June 2016 rather than having my NEW SF86 from June 2017 for the latest job. He questioned why the DUI was not there. I was confused… He noted it down as “Forgot”. After the interview I realized that the copy he had must of been the SF86 from my internship. I clearly didnt forget. I was told by the security at my internship to report it when I see the investigator and be truthful. This was fine with me. I even filled out the DUI stuff in my latest SF86 because it was after the fact of the incidents occurance.
So Im being dinged because I forgot about my DUI in my initial SF86 which I didnt. I mistakenly did not report my petty theft as a minor as I was constantly advised by my parents not to. After researching I realized I should have. On the new SF86 I reported these 2 incidents (DUI as it is within scope of the new SF86 and petty theft). How screwed am i?
Edit: added some info on petty theft as a minor
Edit 2: clarified explanation
Edit 3: added TLDR
TLDR:
I submitted 2 SF86 1 year apart. In between got a DUI. Investigator only had old one and thought I forgot to list the DUI. According to the investigator, he was only given the older SF86 for the interview to question about relatives.
Do you have contact information for the investigator?
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Yes this is the investigator I spoke with yesterday. I have his phone number. I am absolutely terrified that the DUI is being noted as forgot. Fairly the petty theft as a minor should have been reported which I did both incidents on my new SF86.
What am I supposed to do??
Call the investigator and ask about the date on the SF-86 without the DUI. Explain that you DID include the DUI on the latest SF-86 and that you believe that the form that he is using was filled out BEFORE the DUI.
Everybody makes mistake . . . I don’t think that the investigator wants this thrown back when a review shows that he used the wrong copy of your application.
So it sounds like the new SF86 is in the system and the investigator just pulled up the old one by mistake?
Thank you for always quick responses. I had some “Homework” to do for references so I will call him later today. Hopefully some other individuals can chime until this afternoon before I call him.
Come on . . . You have to talk with him again anyway and your asking what to do about him having the wrong copy of your SF-86? This isn’t a tough call or a complicated issue.
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I will talk to him.
He said the interview was triggered due to foreign relaitives. This was my first time talking to the investigator. It makes me wonder if this triggered subject interview has my police records within the scope. Will I get another seperate triggered subject interview for the police reports concerning the petty theft and DUI too? Its exhausting thinking about all of this.
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It sounds like you are over thinking. They don’t want to have to schedule an interview for each subject that comes up. They want to get everything out of the way as quickly and easily as possible.
No, they use the paperwork they’re given. I’ve come across this a few times where a new set of case papers isn’t processed into an older investigation for the same position, or there are multiple requests for investigations.
My assessment is your interview is in relation to your internship SF, thus them using the older questionnaire. The backlog affected the processing time and there’s a slight possibly there’s another investigation open for your permanent position… OR they’re using the older investigation for your permanent position and didn’t properly update a paperwork database.
It was as easy as saying you did two SF’s, one being more up to date.
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I have a lot of questions - was the first sf86 (for the internship) for a Secret or TS? Did you ever meet with an investigator for that clearance? Given the backlog, I am guessing you didn’t. Assuming it was a TS and you did not meet with an investigator at that time…I am guessing it was your internship clearance that you were called for and not the new job. That is why he had old case papers. When you leave a job with a clearance in process, most security officials don’t (and maybe can’t) go into the system and cancel unneeded BIs. Also, the investigators do not go into systems and pick which SF we use. As the BI who the requesting agency is? Chances are, this is your old clearance not the new one.
There is no possible way for the investigator to have “old” case papers for a new clearance. That being said, we can see when you signed your case papers (another thing you can ask the BI about to see which version of your case papers that he has). Given you signed the case papers before the DUI, nobody would accuse you of lying.
Hope that helps a little. There are still a few too many unknowns for me to really know what is going on.
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Was the first sf86 (for the internship) for a Secret or TS?
It was for Secret
Did you ever meet with an investigator for that clearance?
You guessed correctly. The backlog prevented that event and so I did not.
I understand that they must be thorough for TS looking at previous SF86. For a secret in my case will they not have the latest form? Both the internship and current fed job require a Secret.
What agency?
The internship agency was for navy and current is USAF. Ive explain all issues using the provided “extra comments section.”
To follow things up: I addressed my concerns with the investigator this afternoon and he seemed very understanding. I should note that when he noticed large changes early in the process of the interview (somewhere near the employment section) he began chaotically comparing the old and new and made self noted comments in his notebook while essentially copying and commenting everything resulting in a 2hr interview. This made me assume he didnt have the newer SF86 at all. But it concerns me more as I was very diligent in the extra comments section stating things such as “2 years sober from alcohol” and “agreeing to forfeit my clearance should I use drugs again.” I do not want to derail from the topic here but again only the police reports differed between the two SF86 while the drugs were all reported with same frequency and dates in the initial SF86 along WITH extra comments). I took a lot of time in these extra comments as I want the adjudication process go smoothly with no delays so I can move on with my life what ever the adjudication results may be.
So, they we’re both secret clearances. And both for DOD. I still think the investigation was for the internship. But that isn’t a huge deal, that happens all the time given the backlog. You still need the clearance.
As for all the comments, while it is fine that you listed all that information on the case papers, your investigator should/would have read back any comments back to you as we have to confirm they are accurate. If he didn’t, you should have volunteered comments like the drug comment, if you felt it would make a difference. We have questions that we have to ask for all issues that should mitigate any issues. These questions include your drinking habits when you have a DUI. So, “2 years sober” would have been discussed anyway. Again, you are not required to list offenses that occurred after you completed the case papers. So, don’t worry about that.
As for the 2 hour interview…that is somewhat common now. Especially with old case papers and it seems like you had a bunch of new jobs/changes since completing the case papers. That alone can take forever. We are also required to basically rewrite the case papers in our notes because if we don’t write that we confirmed the information, the audit people assume we didn’t ask about it. It is a huge pain and results in long interviews for just administrative stuff.
Let me know if you have any other questions!!
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I can see how the backlog has been a great factor. It only concernes me as he was leading the questions basic from SF86 but not asking anything deeper other than references.
But I need some clarification. The BI said “you were dinged simply for foreign relatives and so we’re having this interview.” Does that mean he was only sent to ask about my Foreign preference and he and/or other BIs have already looked into the other issues (like the drugs, arrest, dui)?
I want to determine if everything in the scope of my newer SF86 has already been looked into… or will i get another inerview later about my DUI because it initially was out of scope?
The government doesn’t care that you are willing to give up your clearance if you drink again. That’s not the point of this process. If you were a risk, the very time that you drink again you could decide to give up secrets. In fact, you could give up secrets AFTER you give up your clearance.
The goal here is to determine whether or not you are a risk.
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In that case, I completely agree. For now the waiting game begins.