Public Trust High Risk after CIA SCI denial

Hi, I’m curious what people’s thoughts are about the likelihood of getting a Public Trust after receiving a CIA SCI eligibility denial.

I passed the full scope poly but was denied for foreign influence and security-related experiences (they weren’t violations or infractions).

The CIA denied me on the basis of foreign influence due to a dozen 1 hour interviews I did for my dissertation 8 years, 5 and 4 years ago. These interviews were 1 hour in length, there was no subsequent contact and were conducted in the Republic of Georgia, the UK and the Autonomous region of Kurdistan.

The security experiences were related to a time in 2007 (16 years ago) when I accidentally took home a classified report. When I found it, I sealed it up, brought it back in and told my boss. They didn’t write me up for this, but I always mention this to be fully transparent.

I also told a friend that I had another unnamed friend that was quitting the CIA. Somehow this got tagged as disclosure of classified information, which is just baffling. I didn’t work with her and we never talked anything work related.

My question is this: will a public trust investigation look into the circumstances of the SCI denial or will it be a desk-reject (to borrow the phrase from academic publishing) where they see that I had a denial for security reasons and just immediately fail me?

I have never had any issues with the law, I don’t drink, I don’t gamble, no debt except a mortgage which will be paid off in 10 years (not 30), and no mental health issues. I did have one minor speeding ticket 8 years ago and two parking tickets 5 years ago (I had to park on the street and I didn’t switch my car from one side of the street to the other fast enough!) I also successfully held a TS/SCI for nearly a decade, and had a current TS/SCI when I received the CIA’s SCI denial.

I’m applying for a new job that sounds more interesting, but it requires a high risk public trust and I’m not familiar with this process.

Thanks in advance!

Hi there,

Just saying what I said in a similar thread; the agency tends to deny otherwise clearable folks due to foreign influence concerns all the time, unfortunately. If this was your only real issue, other clearance applications are unlikely to be affected. Good luck!