Tier1 - Secret Clearance

I just got a job offer last month with Army Civilian. My position requires a Secret Clearance. I am not sure if HR made a mistake with my type of investigation, which is a T1. I also submitted a 10 year SF-86 background investigation. Is there such thing as a T1 Secret Clearance?

Tier 1 = Non-sensitive (no clearance) on an SF-85
Tier 3 = Non-critical sensitive (Secret) on an SF-86

So who decides what to request? Could HR have made a mistake in this person’s case?

It seems to be not an uncommon occurrence where there appears to be a disconnect between the clearance required for the job and the type of investigation that follows.

That form was sent with my fingerprint cards, maybe it is just for the fingerprint portion?

Position designation is determined by HR in collaboration with the supervisor of the position for federal employees. In my experience however, many HR folks and especially supervisors do not know how to properly designate positions and as a result the wrong investigation is scheduled. They also don;t understand terminology and think all investigations result in having a security clearance.

I agree and these “tiered investigations” only add to the confusion!

Would I have to redo anything? The form I didnt have to sign. Its just one of those forms for the background investigator. If I knew about this at the time I would have notify hr about the mistake. After researching more about it, i am guessing the person at OPM who is assigned to my case will do a T3 investigation, and realize the mistake.

I was wondering about this too, but I figure that the person assigned to do your investigation will do whatever kind of investigation they were assigned. I’m not sure they would have any greater insight into what your position requires…?

My position requires a Secret Clearance, i filled out the SF-86. I am guessing what happened the HR specialist printed a prefilled form, and forgot to change the 1 to a 3. Hopefully the person assigned to my case recognizes the mistake.

Only the requesting agency has control of that, not anyone involved in conducting the investigation. Investigative personnel just do what they’re told.

1 Like