Notice of Unfavorable Fitness Determination

I have an appointment with the lawyer in this matter on Monday and have also submitted FOIA request thru DCSA.MIL…I think Amberbunny2, you are right, they are just sitting on their back and not really want to do anything.
Found our another juicy thing, 70% of the team I worked with never had their fingerprints done and did not go thru the process I had to go thru and they have been around more much longer than me.
I think there is something fishy going on, why they didn’t submit any fingerprints and I had to when we all had the same level of access. .

Harpoon,
They used the investigation for TS which ended in Nov 2019 to make the decisions, if anything changed since then, the current organization would not know of the changes since they never conducted their own investigation.

Because they gave you a suitability denial, you don’t get an SOR. Acceptable behavior and fitness at one organization does not necessarily convey. So if you had some issues that might have been mitigated and accepted for your DoD TS, that might not be ok at your new organization. Depending on the state you are in too, if it is an at-will employment state, you are probably wasting your time and money with a lawyer.

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It might take some time to do, but you can submit a FOIA request for a copy of your investigation report.

Did you have an interview? If so, were you confronted on anything? Did the investigator need to report multiple corrections to your form?

Excess of foreign nationals?

Financial issues?

Maybe a report or two from prior employment came back with issues.

Excess traffic tickets with high fines?

Member of questionable organizations?

Much like grocery shopping, several relatively small things can quickly add up.

Waiting on FOIA request to be processed.
Investigator only reached out to me 2 times, the whole investigation was completed in 14 months to be exact.
My sister is a foreign national, but it was the same while I was active duty military and didn’t affect my wife’s current TS.
On credit, I did a Died In Lieu on the property because of job relocation, did not owe the bank any more at the closer and provided investigator with the proper paperwork. I have zero collections, all accounts are paid on time and credit score is 700+.
Had 1 ticket, 145$ fine, paid in full before court date.
No organizations.
We will see what FOIA shows.

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Perhaps the process changed and they were grandfathered in?

Not true, you can do a Congressional Inquiry. If this is stopping you from being employed in a field of business/service that is your chosen field. Go on line, find your congressman and fill out the forms. You can get the information in that manner. It still might not provide you with what you want to see, but at least you can find out the why.

I am waiting on FOIA from DCSA to come back and see what they have cooked up in there. In the meanwhile, I have started a new position, learned my lesson, not working for any government agency ever again.

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A FOIA Request can and usually does take a VERY long time; More-so now because of COVID. I had a FOIA request from a specific agency take 6.5 years, no joke.

You can go thru your Representative and they “can” be quite helpful according to who they are that is. Not all Representatives are equal to be frank. When it comes to Intel Agencies, the one’s who sit on the Intelligence Committee have more contacts and frankly more power to push inquiries.

Also, Agencies will tell you that you can only do one; Either a FOIA request or a Congressional inquiry. Knowing what i know now, I would go with Congressional Inquiry because atleast you have an advocate that can call for you and possibly send a staffer to the Agency and just be a nuisance. This is hit or miss.

I would not spend money on an attorney in this regard. They, unless they have connections at the agencies, have no power to move things along at this particular moment. I know all you need in the info, but agencies are pricks when it comes to releasing info, especially when they know they are at fault.

With regard to me, i was denied an interview with an agency rep for a job and was never told why. I had always wondered if there was something in my security file or investigations, but when i got my FOIA request recently, there was nothing adverse in it and no mention of why i was even denied the interview. I still do not know.

Agencies make up their own play books unfortunately and much of it comes from laziness. I empathize with you, I wish i could tell you to hang in there and fight it, but from what i know now and how long they take to address requests, i would not waste my time; it will only leave you in limbo and depressed waiting on a response. Trust me on that.

As others have said, it’s not a clearance denial it’s a suitability denial. You wouldn’t get an SOR. What did the investigator reach out to you about?? Your wife’s clearance and suitability has nothing to do with yours. Your suitability has nothing to do with the clearance you had in the military. Suitability is based on your character and conduct. You mentioned you did a deed in lieu. Which is in lieu of foreclosure correct? Did you report that to your agency while it was going on? Your credit does take a hit when you do that and although we don’t get credit scores, they do look at that. Was the mortgage behind when you did that? Each agency decides your suitability. There are some agencies who don’t allow anything negative especially when it comes to credit. Hopefully for FOIA will provide some information to you but luckily, it’s not a clearance denial. By you already working for them, did you have any incidences that you had to list on your clearance?

Thank you for your input. My wife and I have all the joint accounts to include Died in Lieu. She reported it to her FSO and I notified the investigator. I only spoke with investigator twice. Yes, mortgage was behind because since approval till recording of the died, the process took 8 months and mortgage during those 8 months shows as past due.

Follow up question, Where would a “Suitability denial” be reflected; is it on JPAS or SC?

Wondering if that is what happened to me when i was not even given access to site for an interview.

I have my Security records from a FOIA request and also a PR request and ind there is nothing in them about that interview or anything about suitability.

Nowhere. This is not a clearance denial, they just dont feel that your lifestyle is suitable for their organization.

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I concur, it is not a denial, it is a decision made my some individual over a cup of coffee. I do not think they bothered actually looking into the details.

So is there a letter or something that is given to Company SSO or Candidate or is it just a Security Officer that makes that verbal decision on the spot?

In my case, i wasn’t even given the chance to go on campus. Nothing was told to my Company nor to me and there is nothing in my personnel records. I have gotten other jobs since, just have always been curious about that incident.

It depends on the agency. People have reported on other forums the candidate received a suitability denial letter that instructed them how to obtain the FOIA information as well as a broad reason for the denial. Others have reported they received nothing.

they won’t tell you exact reason. Glad you moved on, I moved on to a private organization and never dealing with government drama ever again. I am still waiting on FOIA, just curious to see what they are whining about.

The first time I read your post (quickly) I thought you meant you could not get a CAC card. But that’s not the case, is it? They simply would not allow you in? I can’t imagine it was the suitability. There may be something else out there connected with your name… it could be an identity theft thing.

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Hey thanks for response guys.

No, CAC card has never been an issue.

It was the main alphabet agency in Va. They just told the contractor that i could not go on campus for interview. Although it may be that maybe they just didn’t think my resume was good enough too. That is the way the contractor worded it though.

I have not had an IC badge since but have has specific military component intel badges (Not same as IC) but have never ran into an issue like that before or since. It’s made me wonder if i got an IC badge with future contract, if i could visit that campus for meetings or such.

It really caught me off guard and was disappointing to not be told anything absolute. The contractor just said if you figure out what it was, let us know and we will try again. I have subsequently received my PR and FOIA security files (took 7 years for PR) and there is nothing on thereabout that incident or anything that should have barred me from a simple interview.
Now it’s just for my curiosity.

Depends on the agency. Transparent agencies will issue a denial letter and list the reason(s) the candidate was found unsuitable.