Whats up everyone! About a year ago I submitted my sf86 for an engineering contractor to one of the 3-letter’ers up in Nothern VA. I feel as though my timeline is running long, please share any thoughts. (I started the process fully uncleared, never held or investigated any level of clearance)
Very early October 2025 - paperwork submitted.
Mid November 2025 - Subject interview
Late December 2025 completed ci-poly (Only did it once and never heard anything back so I guess thats a good sign?) ** This was the last I heard from anyone on that side.
Around mid April 2026 I reached out to my contractor’s FSO for any updates and they said they saw I was reflected as awaiting assignment to an adjudicator, and “it’ll be many more months”. Mid July I reached out again, and same response. About two weeks ago, reached out once again, and (surprise) same response.
The ONLY red flag I have is a fully disclosed, mitigated, and even dismissed underage drinking charge when I was 20 y/o in college (Now 25). Never been out of the country, no foreign contacts, nothing other than that ticket that was dismissed.
Security clearance processing times for Q3 FY 2026 averaged 243 days (8.1 months) for a Top Secret clearance and 197 days (6.6 months) for a Secret clearance, according to data from ClearanceJobs.
"For an initial Top Secret clearance for industry, the current end-to-end timeline is 243 days: 20 days for initiation, 97 days for the investigation and 126 days for adjudication.
For an initial Secret clearance, the total is 197 days: 21 days for initiation, 59 days for investigation and 117 days for adjudication.
That’s roughly eight months for a Top Secret and six and a half months for a Secret."
18 Months for a TS. That is with no criminal record, solid employment record with no gaps, 840 credit score, but with a prior failed polygraph from a different agency, mental health disclosures, and wife is a naturalized citizen from a NATO western European Country.
They actually went back and talked to people I went to high school with.
The drinking charge should not hurt you unless there is more to it than you disclosed here.
The 3 letters beat to their own drums and there is no rhyme or reason as to how long you might take. As with everything in the government right now, things are a bit discombobulated. Policies (and leadership) in all the government agencies change weekly, daily, hourly.
Thanks for reply , your timeline makes me feel a little better. Yeah nothing else to the drinking thing, just a stupid college mistake walking home from a social event.
Don’t worry and remember the cadence, “No news is good news.” If you haven’t heard anything negative by now, chances are pretty good it will end up being positive.
One thing worth knowing when you compare timelines: the 243-day figure quoted above comes from DCSA’s numbers for DoD industry cases. Agencies that adjudicate their own cases, especially the ones with their own polygraph programs, run on their own clocks and aren’t reflected in that average. Long stretches in “awaiting adjudication” after a CI poly are a common report for those agencies, and the wait by itself doesn’t tell you anything about how the case is going.
While you wait, a few things are worth doing: keep your phone and email current with your FSO, answer quickly if anyone reaches out, and if something reportable changes (a move, foreign travel, an arrest or charge, a major financial change), tell your FSO when it happens rather than saving it for later. Checking in every couple of months the way you have been is reasonable.