TS/SCI Granted...Quick Question Involving It

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
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So I finally got my clearance after 1 yr. and 9 months of waiting. :slightly_smiling_face: I had a quick question though: How do reinvestigations work after the clearance expires? Do they extend the current clearance (assuming the employer still wants you) until you get accepted or denied for the re-issued clearance and allow you to work on classified work? Or are you out of work until the outcome of the re-issued clearance?

Sorry for my ignorance. I have no clue how clearances work. The whole process was a total MESS and if the reinvestigation is even worse I rather go to the private sector instead.

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In the old days before “Continuous Evaluation” (CE) your security manager would get a notice that it was time to do a reinvestigation. They’d set up an eQIP for you and as long as you got the eQIP submitted before the five years (or six) was up, you were good to go… at least for the current customer.

Now with CE, who knows. I guess it is pretty much the same but I suspect it may be a problem to work on a project for a new customer.

As a made-up example, let’s say you were ‘sponsored’ for your clearance by ABC agency. As long as you keep your clearance up-to-date as I tried to describe above, you should be able to work on any projects for ABC. Now let’s say your employer wins that big new job for XYZ. The security people at XYZ may accept your clearance… or they may say no, let’s wait until the periodic update is complete and final.

I don’t think it will be as much of a mess once you are cleared and active but it will still have its moments.

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Ah ok. Thank you so much for your response! :slightly_smiling_face: I guess it’s all relative.

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Under the new way of Continuous Evaluation, what will happen is at the 5yr 6 mo point (TS is currently 6 yrs) you will re accomplish your SF 86. Your FSO or security manager will review it. If everything looks good, they will enter you in to continuous evaluation and you will be done. If there is an issue, you may get a Request for Information or a complete re-investigation ordered from DCSA. Your clearance will not change unless you lose sponsorship or fail to complete what’s required at the 5 yr 6 mo point.

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Used to see this all the time prior to CE. Folks would want to quit one contract, get debriefed…few months later want to get on our contract. But…they were out of scope and required an initial. That meant zero access and zero cleared work till they could get recleared. And it was taking 2 plus years getting folks TS SCI Full poly. My advice is always keep an eye on clearance date, and find contract coverage with another “same level” position until you land on your feet. If you leave a position and are out of scope, that door closes fast and there is no doorknob on your side of the door.

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@amberbunny2 offers good advice here, especially today, when there is SUCH a premium on folks who are already cleared and active in the system. Friend of mine is working on a contract, they are HIDEOUSLY understaffed but they are passing up uncleared candidates in the hope of finding someone they can put to work right away. This is not uncommon these days, but just one example.

This sort of thing has been going on for a long time but I think COVID has really driven it to new highs. Or lows, depending on your point of view :thinking:

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