Likely my question has been asked before by more than a few, but, if so, let me give this another go-around.
Is there some sort of a security clearance blacklist database that the federal government operates and is accessible to government contractors? In particular, if a person applies for a position for a job that requires a security clearance, and the applicant once held security clearances in past positions, does the employer (government or private) consult a database to see if the applicant is blacklisted, i.e., the applicant is forbidden to ever again receive a clearance?
The last time I held clearances was about 14 years ago (DoD TS/SCI and DOE Q with SCI access. A couple or so years before that my employer was told by DOE that many or all of us employees would be subject to a polygraph as part of the security clearance reinvestigation process. DOE sent out some folks to tell us about the polygraph, and we employees were allowed to speak our minds on the subject. I spoke out that I did not believe the polygraph was necessary or appropriate, that the whole business came up as a political move to prove to Congress that the DOE was cracking down on security breaches that had caught the public’s attention. More than a few of my colleagues expressed the same opinion, but I still felt that I hung my backside out bare to the world by standing up to DOE. No surprise, but the polygraphs were ushered in anyways.
Other than this, I never have done anything that would have caused a problem for me to keep, or obtain, a clearance. I have a squeaky-clean life.
Recently, I have been on the job hunt, and I have applied to many defense contractors and US Government agencies (literally dozens) for positions that require a clearance. I was a very good fit for most of these positions as far as the qualifications go, and I expected at least a phone screen or phone interview from more than a few employers. But I hear nothing back at all. Absolutely nothing. I usually hear something back from fully civilian employers in response to similar jobs I have applied for. I am beginning to wonder if my earlier bravado ended up in my security folder/database as a guy who cannot be trusted. Or maybe I’m just a bit paranoid.
I realize the existence of such a database may itself be classified, and thus everything in it. But I will ask anyway: is there such a database that blacklists those seeking a job that requires a clearance and who once held a clearance but did something (real or imagined) to end up in the database?