So I am 25 years old and I will be starting a new job at a DoD contractor in the new year that requires a secret clearance. I submitted my SF-86 and disclosed everything honestly and truthfully but I am still concerned with my drug history. So i will break it down, and if anyone has a similar background to me or works (or has worked) inside the DCSA I would greatly appreciate what you think. As I have spoken to a lawyer on the subject and he told me not to tell anybody at my company. So I graduated college in 2022 and am finishing up my masters degree in about a month. I used to habitually smoke marijuana which I stopped doing exactly 1 year ago (next week is a year). In college I experimented with psychedelics a few times with the last time being in July 2022. I also tried MDMA a few times (5 to be exact) with the last time being in march of 2019. The most concerning thing to me is that there were sporadic times in college when I shared my prescribed adderall to close friends in college, who needed it for studying for finals and such. I NEVER sold it for a profit and me doing this was very sporadic. This completely stopped before May of 2022 before I left where I went to college. I am committed to staying clear and sober and will absolutely be remorseful and aware that I will never do this again. So if anyone has been an investigator or adjudicator or has a similar situation to me and has been through the clearance process, do leave a comment with your thoughts.
You have two problems. The first is you just didn’t smoke marijuana, you used what are considered “hard drugs”. The second is the nexus between this behavior and your new reformed self is less than a year. If this were 8 years in the past it MIGHT be written off as youthful indiscretion. You were honest in your disclosures, but it is unlikely to be enough in this instance.
Actually, if what you describe is true, that the last time you used “hard drugs” was in July 2022 then that is mitigated by the three years since, the environment you were in (experimental) at the time, maturity level now vs. then, and declaration of no future use are all used in looking at the whole person concept. The marijuana use a year ago is not as serious of an issue and guidance from ODNI and OPM state that should not be a disqualifier in and of itself. As long as you were totally honest and forthright you have a good chance to obtain a Secret clearance.
it has been exactly a year since I used marijuana (next week), so by the time i am interviewed and adjudicated it will be more than a year. it has been well over 3 years since I did any hard drugs or shared my prescription, are you taking this into account?
The whole person concept sounds really good, but it is seldom practiced. It is a way of instilling a sense of fairness into a system that is inherently unfair and is intolerant of past mistakes in judgement unless you are very well connected.
Yes. I am taking that into account. You have an uphill battle. Quite frankly I don’t see this happening. They bounce honest people who fail polygraphs on the drug questions when there is ZERO evidence the person EVER used illegal drugs.
People have gotten cleared with 3 months of marijuana usage right before applying, lol. Not sure where you are getting, where you think the gov is so strict about this from. Sure maybe if it was the dea. But this doesnt sound like the dea and is only secret level clearance. @smalrussian At the end of the day @jimsteele is not a professional adjudicator and is just giving his opinions. Continue the process and let it ride out. My opinion is, you have a good â– â– â– â– if this is your only/main concern.
I think the concern is (as Jim pointed out) is the combination of marijuana use, “hard drugs” use. I’ll add onto that misuse of prescription meds (sharing/selling of Adderall), and if the weed or hard drugs were ever purchased by the OP that’s another issue to be considered. It’s an uphill battle, but not impossible.
There has been some time lapse since last use, maturity level factors in, and OPs future intent and what steps they have taken to stop using are considerations.
Good luck OP, every case is individual, I don’t anyone can give you a oh, you’re good or a nope, you’re screwed answer.
The date that is used for calculating the year time frame is what we call the schedule date. The date your case is scheduled. So when you completed the case papers, and the date of your interview are not considered. There are circumstances where the date of the interview is used, but those situations are no longer as frequent as they were a few years back.