I have held a Secret Clearance from 2003-2013, was Active Duty from '99-2011. Deployed as a working civilian Contractor in Afghanistan in 2012-13.
A new job offer I am in process with is requiring a Clearance.
Mine is currently out of scope since January 2013.
But now I am having to redo the SF86.
1)****I had a Domestic violence arrest in 2009. Just the arrest. NOT convicted. Small and regrettable isolated event with my wife. I verified today with Court Clerk. It has been dismissed and about 6 years ago. I had a Clearance during that time and I was Active Duty Military. No reprocussions followed.
I am worried about this one on my new SF86 and evidently according to my FSO I haven’t completely lost my clearance. I have to complete this to get a periodic review to move fwd with re activating my Clearance.
2)****Currently in Foreclosure. First time for that. Went without work last year and put me in the doghouse with my lender. I will have to walk away from this house. My only option was Bankruptcy and I chose not to do that. And to take a loss and to move fwd and recover without a Bankruptcy. 2 small collections on my Credit Report. 1 paid for, but still showing a balance. The other has not been paid in the amount of $219
Credit scores are poor currently around 530-550 because of the foreclosure process and delinquency more than anything I’m sure.
These issues on my SF86 have me very worried. I need my Clearance. I get jobs that require me to use it as an Aircraft Mechanic. I need to retain my clearance bottom line.
The DV arrest should not be an issue since the charge was dismissed and your previous agency knew about it and let you keep your clearance. The current foreclosure and other collections may be a problem because walking away from a valid incurred debt is not a legal remedy to resolve it, and it does not mean you have been released from responsibility for the debt either. Negotiation with the creditor for a settlement or payment plan is always the preferred method. How this will be viewed by the adjudicator depends on the position, level of clearance, and the agency.
I need your opinion in regard to the most regrettable and embarrassing event in my life and how it could affect my chances of being granted a Top Secret with SAP/SAR/SCI.
In 1988, I was a police officer. Two guys who were “friends” at the time were involved in the burglary of a business. I found out about their involvement and confronted them about it, but could not bring myself to turn them in. I then found out that some items that I had bought from one of them were indeed items that were taken in the burglary. I then further involved myself by assisting them in disposing of some of the boxes in which some of the items were in.
A couple of months went by and they were arrested by the Sheriff’s Dept. In their statements, they implicated me and what I had done. I was subsequently arrested and charged with a Class A Misdemeanor (I believe "Theft of Stolen Property was the official charge)for which I received 1 year of deferred adjudication which I successfully completed. Note that this is considered a crime related to “moral turpitude”.
I have lived a good life (married to same wife with two children) and have not been in any trouble in the 25 years since this incident occurred.
Here is the thing. It appears that the record was never entered into the state or national computer criminal records systems (TCIC/NCIC) as I have ran my record online and nothing is shown.
I have worked for a DOD Contractor and I successfully obtained a Secret Clearance - Interim in 2008 which I lost when I transferred to a different division of the company who didn’t require any clearance so I guess it was cost prohibitive for them to keep the clearance. I did not mention the arrest on my Secret Clearance application as at the time, I thought that sucessfully completing my probation and “deferred adjudication” meant that the incident “went away”. I have found out since that is not the case.
My questions are:
Since this occurred 25 years ago, do I need to list it on my Top Secret application? When applying for the Top Secret clearance, I am assuming that even though a computer search will not show anything, that the investigator will find the paper records at the courthouse and/or they will find out when they interview my references. Which leads me to question 2.
When the investigator finds the paper records at the courthouse, I’m sure they will wonder why they were not entered into the online records database (TCIC/NCIC). Would they then tell the courthouse personnel to then enter them into said database?
What do you think that my chances are of obtaining a Top Secret clearance?
The actual incident that occurred 25 years ago is mitigated by time and no history of similar conduct since then, However, now there is a new issue with you applying for a TS. The fact that you did not disclose the arrest and subsequent deferred sentencing is a serious issue that apparently was not caught during the investigation for Secret, which is not surprising since most checks are automated. For a TS there will be interviews conducted and like you said, an investigator will physically visit police stations and courthouses, so the possibility of the information turning up is good. So then the question posed will be: why did you not disclose this before? Background investigators cannot influence or dictate to courts what should or should not be in a record.