SCI randomly pulled?

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

Hello all,

A quick background, I am a US Army reservist with a TS SCI. My previous contracting job I had a TS SCI w/ CI Polly. I deployed through the reserve on a mission where I was using my TS/SCI and ended up quiting my contracting gig while deployed because I was going to move back to my hometown when I got home. I took a break from the IC and worked at a job that did not require a clearance for a year. I decided to get back into the community and was just hired. While I’m in the indoc stage of my new job that requires a TS SCI, they say I still have a TS but my SCI is gone. They said that during my prescreen I still had it but it is now magically gone.

Not entirely sure what happened and haven’t been able to get a straight answer. My background is squeaky clean and nothing has happened that would cause any suspicion. Then security manager basically says that one in every X amount of clearances gets their SCI pulled by OPI and that all they can do is request it back but they have no idea how long it could take.

It all kind of confusing and I can’t get a straight answer on why this happened, if it’s a full on investigation, or if it’s simply just a quick request that needs to be approved. Now I’m sitting here in the dark not knowing if I’m going to lose my job or if it’s going to turn into a year long pprocess. Am I SOL and should start looking for other employment? Anyone ever experience something similar? Any insight or recommendations are much appreciated!

2

When you get read out of the program your SCI is gone. You should still have eligibility if you are within scope. Did you show up to your contracting job when you quit to get read out?

3

There is being indoctrinated/briefed/in access for SCI and then there is eligibility. You can be “read off” and lose your access but retain eligibility. Also, when was your last investigation? If you are “in scope” (within five years) with an investigation that was sufficient to grant SCI eligibility you should be OK. Notice I say should.

Most organizations seem to be tightening up on all things security. My last job they were starting to debrief people with SCI access who were not actively working a program that required it. The security office said we could get re-indoc’d quickly if the need arose but I suspect that this would have varied by customer.

Are you still in the reserves? Still have your clearance there? That should keep it active. But who knows. Under normal circumstances, it would not be a big deal to get the SCI back but these are not normal times.

Maybe time to get another set of orders!!!