Obtaining a clearance withCriminal convictions 9-

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

I left the oil and gas industry this past fall to go into IT, specifically cybersecurity and cloud. I am taking IT certification courses.

Obviously in the DC & Northern Virginia are the coveted jobs are the ones with any type of clearance.

My concern is being able to obtain any type.of clearance from public trust to TS with a criminal history.

College years were a very difficult time for me. I was out the world on my own with very little direction, support or guidance. I was bogged down in periods of depression. I didn’t have good judgment, was indecisive when I would receive advice. The depression started my junior year of high school in 1992 when my mother’s condition of ovarian cancer went down hill. She died Christmas of my senior year. Other life events I believed attributed to the depression.

While in college I was convicted of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment. Both were misdemeanors that resulted in house arrest and probation.

In 2002 I was convicted of collecting unemployment while working. The conviction was grand larceny in the 4th degree with probation restitution (5 years).

Being eager to get off probation early for that case and go on with my life restitution would have to be satisfied.
I couldn’t borrow the money I don’t have any credit set to got a credit card and roommate’s name and used it.
That resulted in a misdemeanor conviction with conditional discharge. Meaning the money was paid back before the case was resolved. That bullet I only dodged because citibank only wanted their money the roommate was a very easy going guy with not an angry boners body and the girlfriend at the time paid the money back.
That was end of 2004/2005.

Now, 2019 that girlfriend who paid the money back is the mother of our 7 smart well behaved kids, ages 11 to 3 years old next month.
In the past 17 years I have learned a lot and I am grateful that my mind has opened up to good judgment, maturity and wisdom from the choices I made and life as a whole.
Now I tell my kids “If it’s not yours don’t touch it!”
When we see a police car outside of Walmart or the mall I’d explain to them it’s more than often someone was stealing and explain to them what exactly stealing means and the consequences of such.
I want them to understand that in the end all they are doing is stealing from themselves (and what that means.)
I want no negativity in my life in any way.

All I’m concerned with is paying the bills. taking care the family, buying a larger house in the future 529 college plans etc.

Currently I am going on to my 3rd IT certification and will go on.

I’ve been heard and been told that it’s a felony over 10 years and I would be able to be favorably adjudicated. I’ve also been told the polar opposite and some in between.

I would really appreciate anyone’s feed back or comments about applying for a position that requires any type of clearance.

2

It should be noted that public trust is not a security clearance.

Anyway, it depends on the agencies, but I don’t see why you wouldnt be able to obtain a public trust position. I do not see anything on Standard Form (SF) 85 or SF 85P that asks for this kind of information. However, there is usually a supplement form for the public trust position, which I havent seen. Don’t take my word for it, but I doubt the supplement form asks for it, but I could be wrong.

As for national security position, section 22 of SF-86 MAY be relevant and require disclosure. Since it happens more than 10 years ago and assuming that nothing happens since, time is a mitigation. Also, it seems that you turned your life around plus having a family… this is another mitigation as it seems to me that there is a clear evidence of rehabilitation. So, I don’t see why you couldnt get a national security position based on the information provided.

Special access? I am unsure about that given the subjective nature of it.

My advice… answers the questions thoroughly and honestly as asked. Don’t give excuses or such. Just own up the mistakes and move on.

3

Depending on the agency, this will be more, or less, of a problem. Cyber security with past credit card fraud? You can see where that’s going. There are many, many, companies that need your expertise. Not all of them are government jobs.

I’m not, at all, telling you that you can’t get cleared. I’m just suggesting that you don’t put all of your eggs in the clearance basket.

4

By all means share the tale, and if living responsibly, utterly responsibly now for 17 years I think much of that will be overcome. Making a very bad decision on top of another bad decision was…frankly a very bad decision and you now know that. Even though it is well out of scope due to the nature of the charges I would reveal them. If you get through the Public Trust, wait a year and then seek a Secret cleared function, and so on. But as Ed said shop around. This is a workers market and you get to dictate terms right now. There are fewer workers chasing jobs. So employers are offering better pay and benefits. The adjudicative standards don’t change however. But time mitigates a lot. Not hanging out with the same crowd also helps, being with the same lady, raising 7 kids together indicates stability. If there are no other issues or areas where they think the whole person concept indicates you have not learned the lessons…it can hinder you. Demonstrating humility and a contrite state of mind for the potential damages you did so many years ago can also help.