So as the title implies, I drank while being underage in 2021 while I was in college. I got a secret clearance from an internship and after the internship ended, I went back to school and went to 3 parties where I drank at each one. At one party, I got pretty intoxicated but other than that nothing really happened. The other 2 times, I just sipped on some stuff. I guess something worth emphasizing here is that during my internship, I did not underage drink, and did only after my time at my internship was done. I am not sure exactly how long my clearance is eligible for though?
The clearance was with agency X.
So now fast forward to 2024, I’m upgrading my clearance to SCI with FSP and this is with a different agency than X. People always say that underage drinking is fine and as long as you admit it, you’ll be good but because I held a Secret clearance when I was underage drinking (might’ve been interim clearance but don’t know when it lasted for, point being, I didn’t think about it much at the time and did it anyways), I’m wondering what the potential effects of this are. Of course I won’t lie to the investigators and will tell the truth, but I want to know if this will affect anything?
Other than this, I don’t have any red flags. Never used drugs, never vaped, no debt, over 21 now and rarely drink (maybe like once every couple months for someone’s birthday), etc…
Honestly, I doubt that this will even come up anymore. They will ask about your alcohol use, but just be honest in that. I admitted to drinking underage when I got my SCI, but I was still underage when I got it. Recently they just asked me about alcohol use, but they never asked me if I drank underage while cleared. I don’t really think there is a place on the form for that. If they ask then be honest, but I don’t think they will.
Alright, thanks for the advice. How much detail do i have to give? Im sure theyd be able to connect the dots if I said I drank in college and they know that I held a security clearance at some point in college.
I would just be honest while you are in your current usage and if they ask about underage drinking then be honest. Like I mentioned, I don’t think there is anywhere on the form for that, but they could ask in the interview (depends on how old you are now).
There is nowhere on the form that specifically asks about underaged drinking. It does ask if you have had any negative impacts due to your alcohol use. (that doesn’t seem to be the case here) That being said, when I interview students or recent grads I would ask about underaged consumption. Be prepared to discuss the who, what, when, where and why if asked.
It’s quite common. I won’t hazard a guess as to if it will negatively impact you, there are too many unknown factors.
Sounds good thanks! Can you speak to whether my clearance being inactive plays a part here? I was debriefed after my internship so to be clear, this was while my clearance was inactive.
I equate asking people about underage drinking to asking people if they have ever drive over the speed limit or smoked a cigarette underage. If there are no alcohol issues, incidents, treatment, or counseling in your past it should never be an issue. But, there are some people in this industry who make this an issue because they consider themselves perfect unflawed human beings and hold others to unrealistic expectation of perfection.
I understand your point, Weeble, however I cannot tell you how many times I ask a student/recent grad about it to find out they obtain, paid for, or created a fake ID to obtain the alcohol. One ran a side business obtaining fake IDs for underaged friends. Some non DCSA contracts want the question asked and issue resolved.
Hi, apologies for hijacking a thread from a month ago, but I wanted to clarify something you said. You mentioned that “non DCSA contracts want the question asked and issue resolved”. Does this insinuate that DCSA contracts don’t specifically care about fake ids, DCSA contracts don’t specifically ask about them, or DCSA contracts consider something like this an automatic denial? Or none of the above?
For context, I am getting TS for a DoD contractor. I am 2 years removed from last fake id usage (4 times total, all alcohol-related), and 1.5 years removed from (underage) drinking. I turned 21 a few months ago but have continued not to drink. I understand there’s a lot of variables at play, but as a follow-up question to above, I was wondering if you had any anecdotes on the outcomes of students/new grads who had used fake ids and if it would be smarter to pursue another opportunity for the summer instead of going through the investigation process. This is my dream opportunity so I don’t want to give up on it, but I also want to be reasonable and ensure I am employed somewhere during the summer. Thanks!