Hey everyone. Unfortunately today I found out that my investigation has been discontinued and am no longer being considered for employment with a 3 letter in the IC. The message in my portal is below:
We regret to inform you that we will not pursue your candidacy for employment as you have been disapproved for access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately rescinding your Conditional Offer of Employment.
You will receive a separate letter containing the reasons for your security disapproval and describing how you may request a review of the security decision, should you choose to do so.
We appreciate your interest and wish you the very best in your future endeavors.
I accepted a CJO in March and did my voodoo exams last month. I did not lie whatsoever during the exams but I was nervous the first day and while the 2nd day went a lot smoother, I was not given a direct pass or fail. My red flags consisted of mainly drug use; daily marijuana usage for about four years until August of 2020, some experimental shroom usage four times up to April of 2020, and two times I used Adderall in college years back. Only had a couple of foreign contacts; my father who is a permanent resident and an uncle who visits on a work visa.
I was fully transparent about EVERYTHING during this time and I had absolutely no reason to lie about anything during any of my interviews, and always provided context for anything or more information about something if asked. It feels especially awful since the persons adminestering the brain reader tests never accused me of being deceitful or trying to manipulate the tests, just that I “had something on my mind”.
This really sucks. I have been looking for a job in the software engineering field for a while now. I graduated a couple of years ago and have been applying everywhere including places on-site since I am not choosing to be picky, but very little dice up to this point. It feels terrible knowing I did the right thing and told the truth just to get denied in the end. I don’t believe my case even went to adjudication; my portal simply updated that I no longer was being considered for the position.
Sorry if this is a bit of a sob story. I just need to vent for a bit. Anyone else ever experience the same?
Yea what sbusuirrel said, this sounds like a clearance denial. As suitability denials usually are not accompanied with a reason for why person was denied where as clearance denials are. You said you have foreign connections and your dad is a permanent resident and not a citizen yet , If your father and and connections were from not low risk countries that also might have played into why you were denied. But all of this is speculation until you get the reason why which it seems like they will send.
So this means my case went through adjudication and was denied? That seems awfully fast for a T5 level investigation considering I submitted my SF86 in March of this year. It seems of all the people I lived on my SF86, only one friend was not contacted and not even my parents were contacted. Regarding potential foreign influence, my dad is a permanent resident but my mom is a naturalized citizen. I’ve sent my dad a one time payment to his Mexican bank account while he was visiting urgently as my grandfather died and one time to my uncle on behalf of my mother (both of these were listed in the transactions section).
Multiple others have told me it was the drug use, but marijuana was the only one I used daily and I stopped 4 years ago. Shroom use was only ever 4 times and I used Adderall twice in the same month 4 years ago in college.
Is it worse if it was a clearance denial instead of a suitability denial?
Sorry dude. It’s been all too common these days.
Yes, it’s a clearance denial, not suitability.
Your SOR will detail the issues but it may not be very specific depending on the agency. They can be very shady. It could be something super innocent even. You have noway of really knowing what the adjudicator was thinking.
Wait for letter, appeal specific items. Foreign contact and family can be challenging, not insurmountable. They may want another year of no drug use. Depending on how much you smoked…heavy user…requires longer to overcome. Stay clean, wait on letter. Update us.
Yeah I’m thinking it was the drug use, not the family members. Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) and a naturalized parent should not be an issue… not that they clear these things with me you understand
Drugs are up in the air now as legalization spreads. Some agencies draw a hard line. But never test. If they sincerely were against drugs theyd test annually.
It sounds like a security clearance denial since they will issue you a SOR. Last January, DHS rescinded my tentative job offer as they denied suitability and terminated the adjudication process with no appeal rights. As of this writing, I have not gotten over the shock of the rescission of the job I anxiously awaited. The most frustrating aspect was they did not identify the reason for their decision. However, I do share your anguish!
Being honest does not promise one a clearance. Lying, and being caught, just about guarantees a denial, but telling the truth does not guarantee one being granted. No one can say for sure until you get your SOR, but it certainly sounds as if your heavy drug use is the reason for denial. What you have described is all illegal, and is often the cause of denial.
Also, the timeline you have described to go through adjudication is very possible. My T5 investigation was successfully adjudicated in a much shorter time last year. (It wasn’t for a three letter and didn’t require a poly, so not apples to apples, but meant to show the timeline is possible.)
That makes you a US citizen but not necessarily a sole US citizen. I’ve seen lots of cases recently where US citizens born here are pursuing additional citizenships and foreign passports based on the birth country of their parents/grandparents. It’s almost like some countries are advertising this option to US citizens for tourism and financial reasons…or perhaps just to gather information on US citizens. If that’s the case it can definitely put a wrinkle in your security clearance process.
I’m aware of that being a thing but I have no interest nor reason to apply for dual citizenship in Mexico. I don’t even have a valid passport at the moment and haven’t left the US in over a decade because of that. Who knows what the adjudicators think though, I still haven’t received a SOR in the mail.
What’s your timeline like? How many days after poly did you get your denial? Did anyone call or email you along with the denial message or did you only get the updated message in the portal?
Short update, but I still haven’t received anything in the mail. I accepted a 2nd CJO for a developmental/entry-level position at a different IC agency a while ago, and already submitted my SF86 prior to receiving the denial message. Will this affect my chances at all?
Do you know what sort denial it was? Was it a suitability or clearance denial?
If it is a suitability denial, it would not effect no on your current offer. If it was a clearance denial, it gets more complicated. It is unknown if your other offer will be rescinded. There is a good chance your other offer will be rescinded. I am in the same boat as you are.
I am still in the process with the another agency and I ahven;t heard anything despite already receving a denial. You may have update your other SF86 to update the area asking about if you ever had a clearance denial.
