Public trust, life has been a mess

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

So applying for a part time reservist position with DHS. They state a background investigation will be done, but no security clearance, so I assume a public trust check?

  1. Chapter 13 4 years ago, where we finally decided to let the house go back to the lender, and walk away, making it so we did not need to complete the chapter 13, and we are just taking care of the credit card debt a bit at a time. I am making progress on it. It was a dark time for me, my significant other had been sick for years, kidney transplant, BKA, stroke. I could not work and take care of her also, so I survived on some rental income I have. Now that she has passed, it is time to get back in the workforce in a position I will enjoy.

  2. Back in the 80’s, some bad checks that made it into the court system. One in the 80’s resulted in a felony conviction. In 2000, one bad check from my company - resulted in arrest and conviction. All required full restitution which was made. I was in my 20’s, and pretty damn stupid. The 2000 one was a combination of things, but again stupidity played the biggest part

  3. 2012 maybe. Arrested for assault on my ex son in law, when he came to my office to do the “prisoner transfer” IE, pick up the grand kids for his visitation. He had just been arrested for physically abusing them, which he was later convicted of and did 2 years probation. Minor assault, the DA offered to have me plead guilty and get a $50.00 fine - I said no way, I want this in front of a jury. Day before court the DA dropped all charges.

I am an expert in my field, with all the qualifications they are looking for. I do these things already on a state level (which required background investigations also)

Other than that, I can have plenty of elected officials, community officials, state officials write references talking about how good a person I am.

So what say you fine people. Should I have issues? Should I not? How long ago do they look on a public trust? Is my explanations valid? Should I just throw myself at their mercy? When asked, I am totally upfront on this stuff.

2

You may have to explain some of this as part of the process but you should be fine. I would steer away from describing felonies as being the result of “stupidity” even though they usually are. “Youth” is a better excuse but try to figure out was going on in your life that caused you to stray from the trodden path.

3

I would say apply and see what happens, nobody can guarantee anything here. Make sure you have clear evidence that all misconduct has been mitigated. Good luck!

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