Odd language in denial letter?

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

I received an oddly worded letter from a 3-letter agency and couldn’t tell if I was denied clearance or they just stopped investigating my background. The letter indicated that I was no longer being considered for employment, but the reason was vague. It appeared that I lost my conditional job offer due to other competition of more qualified people (which seems odd since I was in communication with the person who hired me) and / or? that they “are unable to give further consideration” to my application, which seemed to be form-letter language with no apparent findings or denial regarding my “suitability”.
Up until mid-Feb, I had been getting calls periodically to indicate they were still interested. Has anyone else received something like this or tell me what the letter means in regards to a security clearance - was it denied or did it just stop? I did request additional information, but I am not sure how long that would take (another year?). Meanwhile, I am going through a public trust background check for my current cyber-security job and looking at leadership opportunities that require a TSC. Should look at a future or do future opportunities end here with whatever it is currently (which isn’t clear).

9/2017 interview
10/2017 COJ - turned it down because it was so low level than my then-private sector job
3/2018 - came back with more reasonable level (I was an IT Senior PM/IT Manager at the time)
3/2018 - paperwork turned in
4/2018 met with BI Investigator
7/2018 - BI interview/psych and poly (said I passed)
7/2018 - additional paperwork requested was sent in
12/2018 - paperwork sent in July was re-requested (apparently lost) so I re-sent it
3/2019 - vague denial letter

2

Did it say you are welcome to apply in a year? Did the letter explicitly state that you were denied a security clearance?

3

It sounds like they filled the position… some of the IC agencies seem to do this, they process a number of people and once the openings fill up, they might stop processing the others.

As long as there is nothing in there that explicitly states you were denied a clearance or explaining how to file an appeal, you are probably free to apply again… maybe even with the same agency.

1 Like
4

It doesn’t sound like you were denied a clearance. The “three-letter agencies” are often vague. It’s in their nature. They may have filled the position, although I think that they would go through the process and see if there will be something else by the time you are cleared. There’s always turnover. It sounds more like they felt that you might NOT clear for one reason or another and they are actually doing you a favor by NOT denying you.

5

Thank you all for your information, it is sincerely appreciated. My biggest concern was that there was something found that I was unaware of and was now determined to be unable to obtain a TSC. I think you are right about your determination of the vague language - no actual security clearance or denial was given. That’s a relief.