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!