I have very few friends outside of work. I listed the 3 of them but now my BI wants more.
I work a lot of OT at my current job, I mak 1.5 times my base salary every year doing that much OT, I’m also using my GI bill for an M.S., when I have time I spend it with my wife and family. Shouldn’t telling the BI this be enough?
I run into the same thing (being an essentially anti-social kind of squirrel). I end up mentioning neighbors (which doesnt make the investigators happy because they can find them on their own), coworkers that I dont see outside of work, and others that I rarely see.
Dont be reluctant to mention instructors from your grad program. At least you can dig up a work address and phone# for them. And they can verify that you are taking classes (at least the one that they taught) and are (hopefully) a good student as far as attending class and submitting assignments… Even for online classes.
I ran into the same problem with my BI very recently. Since I quit drinking nearly five years ago, I’m not quite as social as I used to be. Add work, school. a house, and a family and there’s little time for much else. I relied on a few instructors who, for the most part, were willing to help. I also asked fellow students who I might have been paired up with for a particular assignment. They’ve all been happy to help.
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Investigators want social people and good investigators are going to ask you a hundred questions trying to find someone in your life that you “socialize” with. Good investigators also realize when the person is just not social. All you have to do is explain to your BI your situation and why you don’t have any friends. It happens all the time…all.the.time. It sucks for BIs because it usually means more work for us (the reason we push so hard for some random person in your life that we can consider social)…but again, it happens more than you probably think. Don’t over think it or stress about it. It isn’t like you aren’t going to get your clearance if you don’t have X number of friends in your life.
To piggyback, don’t stress when trying to come up with names, but do try to provide leads. I ask my Subject’s to check with spouses, if they go to any organizations, what they do outside of work.
If you play intramural sports, belong to any community organization, or have study groups, you have social in the security definition.
If you don’t, you don’t.
This is particularly tough if one left the service and moved to a new location. Until you establish yourself there…hard to find local folks. And you can get push back if the three character references are out of state. But meeting the 10 years of knowing you (added up) can be tough on younger folks. As mentioned above, school, classes, projects, worship centers, etc are all good sources of people willing to at least speak to what they know of you. Considering the cliche about the mass shooter as “he was so quiet, kept to himself…nobody suspected…” aside, there really isn’t that much to gain from those only knowing you casually IMHO.
It is what is it. I literally have no social contact with anyone outside of my boxing team. I am not a people person, never have been. I once worked at a job for 25 years and left giving my customary 2 weeks notice. Did not say goodbye to anyone, even though we spent many years working professionally together.
Boxing team, camera club, militia unit, these are social leads we’d be interested for you to give us.
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST: To speed your processing, join a militia group.
Sorry. Couldnt resist. Hey its a Friday 
Boxing Team? Seems like that is your answer.
I swear I’m going to open a service where you just pay me to be a reference. Coverage period will be worthless but we can be short term besties!
Thank you for all the feedback, good to see I’m nIt’s just working so much OT when I get time off I don’t want to drive long distances to see old friends, I want to hang out with my wife and sometimes my family members. I also used my wife’s best friend and said I know her through my wife, I met her a couple of times and spoke to her on the phone a few times, she probably knows more about me then my friends do cause they’re always on the talking.
Tell your investigator to go fish. It’s the investigator’s job to find developed character reference(s) (DCRs) on his or her own. I understand the need to expedite matters and it’s alright for the investigator to ask (beg) for possible DCRs, but he/she does not have a right to demand them from you. A DCR by definition is someone who is not listed on the SF86 and therefore by definition not someone identified by the Subject of the investigation. Asking you to provide additional names is sort of cheating, in that they are not really developed references. A real DCR is one who is identified by another reference, like a Listed Character Reference (LCR), a neighbor or a work associate. Somehow over 19 year ago it became commonplace for investigators to get their DCR(s) directly from the Subject of the investigation. If that was truly permissible, the SF86 would have space for 4 LCRs (people who know you well) instead of only 3.
For fed-investigator: I recommend you call your company “Dial-A-DCR” or “1-800-DCRS”
We should still be getting DCRs the old way but the fact of the matter is Investigators are being trained at the BIC, or whatever they call it now, to get them straight from Subject. It’s maddening.
I wonder how much I should charge for my new company, 1-800-DCRS. Lol.
Can anyone find the word DCR in the TIG? No longer a requirement.
I recall once being asked “who would be a neighbor or reference you would not want me talking too, someone who you feel would say bad things, as I want to avoid talking to them…” Yeah right.
I always ask Sources if there is anyone who would not recommend the Subject for a security clearance/federal position right after I ask them if they recommend the Subject.
Names often blurt out.
DCR is still in TIG. Doesn’t matter though, with the way current policy is. Makes for a piss poor investigation not even trying to find DCRs but I digress.