I got my Secret clearance in March 2010 through OPM working for DOD as a contractor. In Feb 2015 I switch jobs and my clearance was transfer to new employer and start working for Homeland Security as a contractor. Again in March 2016 I switch jobs and start working for Dept of State as a contractor and my Clearance was transferred. Last week when my current company send documents to office of Diplomatic Security to renew my PIV card we were told that D/S cannot find my Clearance in their system. My company’s FSO is telling me that my clearance is showing as Inactive when she login into JPass. The Dept of State was courteous enough to tell me that I cannot continue to work unless I at least get an Interim Clearance. My employer has initiated the interim clearance.
My concern is who messed up my Secret Clearance. Is it my FSO. How does it work does the D/S has access to the same system as my FSO. My employer is ready to offer me a 2 month Severance package provided I signed a “Settlement and Release Agreemment” which states that I won’t hold them responsible for the lapse or loss of my Security clearance. Is it not the job of your FSO to check clearances of every employee in the company at least once a month. I have a family and mortgage to pay please need some advice. Should I sign the Agreement. Does anyone knows any good Lawyers in DC area who specialize in Security Clearances.
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I’m going to guess State. They never verified the crossover and are the most difficult to work with. But that is my experience, repeated again this past week. Even our senior client clearance folks have given up on networking with state to verify clearances. It will be easy to see when the clearance went inactive, and where your clearance was sponsored when it happened. That agency is responsible. Now the bad news. You are still inactive. This happens from time to time and I work closely with my client clearance office to get them “turned back on.” I see it a lot when folks work multiple cleared contracts or switch jobs. The losing agency sends in the term paperwork and it is processed. The new sponsor, who may very well have submitted the crossover paperwork…did not follow through or they work for the same clearance repository who terminated all clearances instead of just one sponsor. Sad but true I see 5 to 6 annually. Honestly, if you have a good security office they can push hard and have it re-activated as it was wrongly shut off. You did not have a revocation…someone made an administrative error. Getting one to admit that…difficult. As to verify all clearances monthly? I have well over 430 clearances. It is impossible to check them all monthly. Period. I get a quarterly list from the client. If I verify all that day, one can drop off that afternoon and I will not know for 89 more days. I would not sign the letter they are asking. They need own this issue since you work there. Technically the day you went inactive…they were sharing classified info with a person who did not reflect an active clearance. This is fixable, but at times the employee is walked off the compound. I managed to get the last few paid the entire time and it lasted 6 weeks. It may involve a hasty SF86 and a submitted crossover form, even though you are not crossing over, you are re-activating. But this is the work around if it is less than 2 years since it happened.
Thanks amberbunny for the reply. In my case the I found out the Clearance has been InActive for more than 2 years. If I hire a good clearance attorney can he activate my clearance. How is it possible the State Dept office of Diplomatic Security cannot even find my name in their system when my employer’s FSO can see me as Inactive in the JPas. I am meeting with my FSO tommorrow and let’s see what she has to say. So far the only response I got from her was that she is truly sorry for her mistake. I understand if u have 300 people to keep track of but we have only 30 employees in my company how can she missed it.
I think all agencies will err on the side of security. Meaning, if your clearance shows as inactive…and it shows that for more than 2 years…several agencies will only take you as an initial submission (read: slow boat to China). That can take 12 plus months to resolve. However, I can tell you my client has assisted on numerous occasions to reactivate a clearance that should never have gone inactive. It is behind the scene and they do not share details but clearly they can do this. I have seen Secret clearances cross over from DoD to my community up to 5 years old. When close in date they at times request a new crossover form, and a re-investigation form. But the cross over department does the quick “no no no” check, that is my term for a quick review to see if there are claimed issues, before reactivating the clearance. Your company FSO can show the date you were submitted for crossover, which would have happened prior to you badging for the company site (if you use a badge). The client would also verify your clearance before allowing you on the their compound or in their building. If the client gave you SIPR access…they had to verify your clearance in some manner. So there is enough guilt to go around between client and company. At the minimum your company should take you in to overhead charging until you are reactivated. Having 30 clearances for a site is easy to manage. I can tell you it is quite difficult shuffling over 430, soon to be 500 clearances to keep up with them. The FSO should clearly have the crossover form bringing you to their contract. The Contracting Officer will have a copy of that form as well and should advocate on your behalf to the client, and they are from the client. So that helps. Your FSO, and your client senior security rep should be on the phone with the client security office to fix this. At times I do not get the clearance form returned showing the clearance crossed over but I have access to the client system to verify myself. Just found out today I have a person we submitted for TS in May…she cleared three months later. No form was sent back to us. She had an existing Secret but even then 3 months is ridiculously fast. In this case it doesn’t harm the employee, but in at least a half dozen instances it has hurt employees. As I explained earlier I had to debrief and walk off 4 or 5 last year and submit re-investigation SF86’s to quickly re-activate.
I don’t think State or DHS use JPAS…? Did you work on a DoD program at one point? Once you left the DoD world to go to DHS, you may have entered the JPAS Twilight Zone AKA “Loss of Jurisdiction.”
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For him to work for the last contract…his company FSO was responsible for successfully crossing him over. And the client should never have accepted him unless they saw his clearance in their system. Think of it as pitcher…ball…catcher. Somehow the company had jurisdiction and it was pitched…the ball is the clearance eligibility…someone was required to either catch it…or deny it and he should never have been brought on. Obviously he was brought on, had access to classified, and the entire time he did not technically have the clearance eligibility. But his position requires it, likely granted access to SIPR or related systems. The problem I have in these situations is the contract employee, when in good standing has access to the IG or equivalent of the client…until they are walked off. Once the company walks him off the client is done talking to him. It is a great risk to contract employees all over. Clearly someone at the GS-14 or 15 level should be able to clearly see he had a clearance, the company put him in a seat, and he had access…and they should administratively fix the boo boo. I have seen this happen with several of my TS SCI Poly people. But it is my job to keep up with the clearance roster. It is a bear comparing a new list to the last one. It would be so much better if I had “live” access to simply make the computer show me additions and subtractions, but even in that case 89 days could go by before I would have any indication the person’s clearance was shut off. I see this mostly with folks failing to accomplish financial disclosures. The clearance is shut off but they are not notified, I am not and the client compound security folks are not either. Not until I try filing a random computer process later for say…foreign travel or a part time job will I see their access is no longer there.
The FSO (or SSO or CSSO or whatever) at my last job said every once in a while the customer would come out to do an audit and they’d find the one guy still read-on who had left the company five years ago… or even worse, the guy who was still working there, still in access, but for whom they could not produce any evidence of a current clearance.
But now they are so strict it seems like they audit more frequently… plus that company had practically no more jobs where they were the ‘prime’ and the prime contractor was always trying to pull back our billets (to give to their own people).
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thanks everyone this forum is very helpful. now in my case you think a good its a good idea to hire a attorney who specialize in security clearance cases. may be he can get my clearance back. do u know any one in the DC area.
also Dept of state wants me back but they want me to have at least have an Interim clearance to start. My FSO has sent my sf86 for Interim and Secret. Any one knows how long its taking these days to get interim. Will it be quicker in my case because i have Secret in the past but now Inactive.
How long ago did you leave State Dept? Under two years, should not be a problem.
I only have a few cases to go by but I have never heard of State issuing an interim.
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its not the state but my company trying to get me an interim clearance. the state will accept me as a contractor if i have an interim to begin working for them
whats the procedure to obtain my JPas record without involving the FSO in my company
You are not making sense. State Department grants your interim/access/clearance - not your company or another federal agency.
I may be wrong but when my company’s FSO submit my sf86 for interim clearance so that once I got my my Interim I can start my assignment at State Dept isn’t this the practice?? also Does any one knows which system State Dept has access to is it the same JPas that my FSO uses.
Well…when you talk about State…difficult. They report some to Scattered Castles but not all. I have crossed over Secret and TS with a huge assist from the client and a liaison…but suddenly I can no longer cross over their TS clearances unless in SC. They have their own system and they don’t want others to see it as does most three letter agencies, but they should all populate in SC. Except they don’t. Reciprocity is mandatory and fed law and it works. Except when it doesn’t. There isn’t any teeth to reciprocity. Since it has been longer than 2 years you can still try cross over to reactivate, but putting in for an interim if there isn’t ANY unadjudicated info, will maybe, possibly turn one on for you and get you working…then they submit an initial request. But this is clearly an FSO that slipped and a client not paying attention. I get a new clearance roster each 90 days. Right now I have over 400 on my roster. I see many I termed and cancelled but still show up. I have no explanation. I can produce the signed term form and even a receipt from the correct office who terminates clearances or cancels them in process. But on more than one occasion I have been told the form or receipt is meaningless, only the system is the authority. I have had TS folks fall off my list and work 90 days before I get a new one and get to see they fell off. It is imperfect at best.
What is a Scattered Castle is this a system used by State. My company’s FSO told me she submitted my sf86 in JPas for interim. Once I am approved for Interim will the State
See my approval in their Scattered Castles is this how it works?? Also my company’s FSO told me that my record in JPas showed that I was Administratively Separated or become Inactive on Jan 08 2019 just 3 months ago so I must have been Inactive since Jan 2017 since it takes 2 years to become Inactive. Ironically I was working for the State all this time supposedly with Secret Clearance.
Also is there a way to find if my FSO is not lying about submitting me for Interim I already send my finger prints is there a number to call to check if my Interim application is in progress. Will a good Security Clearance lawyer can help me to reactivate my clearance know anyone in the DC area??
I think you have an FSO who did not follow through. I do not think a clearance lawyer can help you unless the client sees an administrative error was made and they reactivate the clearance. My client has done this in the past and then requested a re-investigation on the spot. So this turns the clearance on, and gets everything quickly back in scope. Now, getting State Department to admit they had you working with no clearance, as well as your company FSO…that is a tall order. You can have a lawyer investigate charges against the company for wrongful termination and possibly force a settlement for lost wages. I think you have a clear case there. But if the interim comes back and you report back to work…most is overcome except lost wages, and I would have a discussion with the company about that.