I am very new to all the clearance process details and would like some experienced member to have a look and tell me if my timeline makes sense. This falls under the jurisdiction of DoD CAF from what I understand,l. It is a T3 Investigation. Here is the timeline:
Dec 2017: Investigation started.
Mid January 2018: Interview with an Investigator, verifying the form I filled out.
February: my alma mater and my employers were contacted for reviews.
Mid February and Mid May: Two references contacted.
When I called the hotline to ask about the status of my background checks about two weeks ago, I was told it is being “worked on” and in the later stages of the investigation. They also mentioned something about “waiting for an agency response”.
My questions:
Is this an unusual timeline in any way?
What is meant by waiting back from an agency ? I know there is a criminal history check on federal level and local level. But I have no bad credit and never had ANY conflict with the law, so that should not take a lot of time to hear back from, should it ? What other agencies are normally being contacted ? Is it normal or cause for concern that it takes so long to hear back?
Waiting for an agency response could mean that they are requesting information from some area of your background, and waiting on that department/agency to return information. Could be a school you went to, police department of a city you lived in, or a job you worked at. Your process is very normal and you should be prepared and aware that most people are waiting at least a year for their clearance. It took me 24 months to get a DOD secret. I met with investigator, references were contacted, then didn’t hear a word for 18 months. Your investigation is still ongoing, once that closes you still have to go through adjudication, which could take up to 90 days or more.
I think 18 months puts you near the very end. But adjudication is a purgatory. Whatever they found may take deep thought, multiple level review etc. But I consistently find 18 months seems to be the magic period where it starts coming together. But up to 2 years is regularly seen. I would ask the FSO to engage once past 18 months for TS initial. If I do not see a BI open after 60 days I start contacting and asking questions. But it isn’t unusual to see 4 months before it actually gets assigned and the system reflects this.
That is a pretty quick turn around based on the posted timelines on this and similar sites.
My investigation started in June and I was not contacted by my BI until the end of October. It took 362 days for my investigation to close after I submitted my SF-86.
This is based off the assumption that you are calling the NBIB hotline, but once the investigation is closed it will reflect that in their system. After the investigator has everything they need (I believe) it is sent to an NBIB review before it is finally closed and sent back to your sponsoring agency for adjudication.
Great news guys, my investigation closed just yesterday apparently. It will be adjudicated by the “DoD CAF”.
I somewhere read that the adjudication phase should not take longer than two months, is that correct?
By the way: It was a T3 investigation, however, I will not get the clearance, it was done for the purpose of a military suitability determination.