TS/SCI clearance for a Coop program at an IC agency. Start date was billed as being in January. Investigation complete and sent to adjudication week before Christmas- formally held a now expired Secret clearance with the same agency. No red flags per my investigator.
Here is the problem- I’m a full time student using the GI Bill and supposed to be taking the semester off for this program to work full time. I can’t afford to wait a month + or however long it takes for adjudication without any income.
The semester starts January 15 so I need to have a guarantee of either an interim or adjudication decision by then, otherwise I cannot enroll in classes for the semester (with the gi bill providing income I need for COL) and I would have to find a temp job for 6 months and miss out on a semester of school.
I cannot do the Coop program and go to school full time and would lose out on months of GI bill benefits if I did part time while I waited for an adjudication decision. Tried asking the program coordinator if I had a January start date and was told that security is completely separate from them.
Questions:
Is it possible to get an adjudication decision in a few weeks?
Are adjudicators provided with a deadline for decisions?
Anyone have any experience with clearances for programs such as this with advertised start dates?
Hopefully i explained this sufficiently but if any clarification is needed I’m happy to do so! Thanks, and any advice would be much appreciated!
I’ve seen several stories like this on these forums. Adjudication takes as long as it takes and I don’t think there’s any deadline to meet an internship/coop program. More than one person has been told, “sorry, but you can apply again next year… and go through this whole nutroll all over again.”
Who knows maybe you will hear good news from the agency before you read this post.
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Thanks, the reason I ask about her deadline is when I met with my DCSA BI at the start she said she had a 30 day deadline to submit it to adjudication so I was curious as to something similar existed for adjudication itself?
I saw that it is currently averaging 16 days but I’d think the holidays would make it longer?
Really tough decision as to whether to wait indefinitely or turn down the opportunity…
I also assume I couldn’t use an interim because it requires SCIF access?
I have heard reports that the investigators are under pressure to get their piece done. And there is pressure to get cases through adjudication as well, but it doesnt mean things dont languish.
Now somebody posted a timeline on here the other day and their case was adjudicated very quickly, like about a week, so it certainly is possible.
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Are you certain you’re in adjudication? Just because your investigator is done with their part does not mean everything else is done.
Yes, my program coordinator was able to confirm it was passed on to adjudication around Dec. 20 but was unable to provide a timeline/timeframe for an adjudication decision.
Awesome, thanks! I know this agency does all their adjudications in house so my hope is that the internship team has a good relationship with the security team when it comes to communicating these things.
I would assume the SCI part would be the major contributor to delay in this case.
Everything slows to a crawl during holidays. Adjudication can take quite a while. Only if the client submitting you rattles cages can you expedite it.
25th business day and still haven’t been cleared through adjudication. My HR rep has no idea when the clearance will go through and the the security office will not provide them with that information…
Not sure how long I can sit around doing nothing waiting for this to go through. Already was forced to give up an entire semester of education and ~$13,000 to make this happen and the government hasn’t even held up their end of things… beyond frustrating.
25 days is absolutely nothing. I’m surprised your security department even told you it was possible.
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Yup, the start date was supposed to be this month but now that’s not going to happen. Checked the trusted workforce Q1 update and adjudication has risen to 64 days. Totally unacceptable the process has dropped to 2020 timeliness levels.
Not even sure what to do or who to contact to speed it up, bureaucracy shouldn’t be costing students their education, which it looks like it will at this point.
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Hi all,
Quick follow up question. Sitting at ~ 2 months in adjudication now. EOD was supposed to be last month.
Would it be too much for me to be contacting my Hiring Manager every few weeks at this point to follow up on the status of the clearance?
TIA
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I heard from the hiring team that I am in adjudication. I have probably been in adjudications for at least 3 months now.
I think it is unlikely the hiring manager will have any insight into the status of your clearance.
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Would reaching out directly to my security case manager for clarity be a better avenue do you think?
My concern is the process, per the CJO, is time bound and I was required to forgo other (educationally and financially) opportunities to pursue this position- which I did.
While I don’t mind waiting, the lack of communication between the hiring team and security (like you said HR stated they aren’t provided with any timeframes) has me concerned either they are unable, or unwilling, to advocate for me or meet their own deadlines (which have since passed as I was supposed to start over a month ago).
Do you have contact info for that individual? Gets closer to the source, but adjudication always seems to be the black hole of this process. You would not be the first one who get screwed over by the process of applying for an internship.
This is a big part of the reason that IC agencies lose good candidates, people getting tired of this process and jump on other opportunities. The government has known about it for a long time but they can’t seem to make much progress. And there are just enough high-profile security violations to make it impossible to make major changes to the system (ie really speed things up instead of just publishing these meaningless timelines which do not in any way reflect most peoples’ actual experience).
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I do, haven’t had any contact with them in about 6 months but still have their email.
Exactly, this is the issue I have. I don’t understand what is so difficult about communication and transparency. Nobody is asking for corners to be cut or standards to be lowered, just open lines of communication and transparency.
I wouldn’t even be upset if I was told it would take another month or two, but instead I’m being led on with “hopefully soon” for 2 months while I’m missing out on my education.
If I were to apply for other jobs in the interim, would that need to be reported or having any bearing on the clearance now that the investigation has been closed?
Thanks for all your help friend.
Take any other local job to pay bills. Ive seen adjudication last 24 months. Accept a good offer and if you are happy and comfortable when cleared position clears…decision time. I’ve seen several drive increased salary once cleared duecto wait.
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Update: Just got notification that all is good and I’ve been cleared. Thanks everyone for the help. Here is a timeline for everyone who may find it helpful.
Total time for T5 w/ Poly : ~7 1/2 Months
Poly: ~1 Month
Investigation: ~4 Months
Adjudication: ~2.5 Months
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