I’m going to be accepting a job requiring a secret clearance at a defense contractor soon which already knows about this stuff. I’m in my late 20’s, and in my late teen/early 20’s used marijuana with friends sometimes. My most recent use was in mid-2016 when I bought a small amount in a state where it was legal (which I know doesn’t make a difference) and used twice with a friend. My total usage over my lifetime probably comes to roughly a dozen times at most.
Since then I’ve been clean, I don’t associate with people who use marijuana. My friends who used to have all moved on in their lives so it just isn’t something done in my social circles any longer. When I did use I was fairly depressed, and since then I’ve sought medical treatment and am doing a lot better.
My other concern was that when I was in my late teens/early 20’s, I did some filesharing of media. I really wasn’t exorbitant or running my own site, but I was busted by the copyright holder and we settled out of court. I obviously don’t fileshare any more and have since sincerely come to think it’s unethical. I can’t remember exactly how long it’s been, but probably 5 years-ish?
Is there anything else I can do to improve myself?
I think the drug use is not a huge problem. You say the contractor already knows about it? Does that mean you filled out some kind of pre-screen paperwork?
As for the file sharing, I don’t know, but there was somebody on here who says they were denied a clearance because of file sharing. Do you have any records of the complaint brought by the copyright holder and your settlement? I think the investigator will want to see that.
I don’t get to decide such things, but if I did, I’d say that you learned your lesson and the fact that you had to settle shows that you resolved the situation with the copyright holder. But I never ran into this situation myself and I don’t think I ever knew anyone in person who had these issues. Not saying that its so unusual, just cautioning that I dont have much anecdotal evidence to share here. No pun intended.
Yep, I had to fill out a security questionnaire before even getting interviewed that asked if I’d been out of the country recently, drug use, criminal history, and citizenship status, where I had to admit the marijuana and explain I don’t intend to use again. And after that I got an interview and an offer.
As for the file sharing, thats further in the past. There was never anything filed in court, I just got mailed a big packet of potential filings with a settlement offer so I consulted with an attorney and he helped me accept. It was definitely a brutal life lesson, and I do have copies of everything involved.
It varies from company to company, but some places do a really good job of pre-screening and if you make it past their screen you have an excellent chance of getting cleared… assuming nothing else pops up that is…
i like the contracting companies that thoroughly prescreen and help Subject’s complete their security questionnaire. Those are the companies where the Subject interviews are fairly short and the field work tends to be much easier.