In July of 2023 I was removed from my job and walked out by my site lead because my clearance was “suspended”. I never received an SOR and to this day have no idea why I was let go. I was unemployed and in limbo for 7 months waiting to hear anything, until my former boss told me to just try applying for security clearance jobs and see what happens. So, I did and got immediately hired. They obviously checked my clearance status before offering me the job and hired me because my TS was still valid. However, I lost my SCI. They put me in for the SCI, which I was told only takes about 3 weeks “normally”.
It has been 8 months, and it is still in adjudication. I lost another opportunity for a higher paying position because they were not willing to wait for the adjudication. Luckily, I am able to work in my current position with just a TS, and we only need SCI to go to certain sites/offices. Any insight as to why this is taking so long? I had an SCI for 8 years, then was unemployed for 7 months (under very weird circumstances), and now it is taking an abnormal time to get it back. I know SCI is office specific, so could it be taking longer because they have to “start from scratch” since I was out of the loop for 7 months? Is this remotely normal?
Edit…also wanted to touch on the fact that I really have no idea why I was walked out of my previous job. I have no drugs, no money issues, no criminal stuff, no DUIs, nothing. I did go through a divorce and failed to report it when I got separated, but that is the only thing that I can think of. I reported my divorce and current living situation to my new company when I started just to make sure they had the most current information.
I can’t comment on why that happened or why it’s taking so long. But SCI is simply an internal access request. You should be able to view the status on EPAS or ask your fed PO to check it for you. At the minimum, you should be able to find out who is handling the req and the approvers so you know who to reach out to.
Thanks for the info. I’ll get with my SM when he comes in tomorrow.
You should have received an SOR. Sometimes, as in my case, you have to force the agency to send you one even though it is policy and “maybe” law to do so.
A denial or revocation of SCI requires and SOR.
Was it our friends in northern, a by chance?
Nope. Never got it. When I got “suspended” my site lead just said “the government called down and said you are suspended, pending investigation”. That is it. Never got anything. I didn’t even get read off. As far as the SCI, I am thinking that since I was out of work for those 7 months, that it just kind of dropped off since I wasn’t using it any longer, and the agency I was working for probably pulled it. So, it wasn’t a simple “oh he was just SCI, so he is good”. I think they have to start over, and that is what is taking so long. That is my best guess. It’s still frustrating, though.
And it was one of those 3-letter agencies that uses the letters R-N-O (not in that order).
One thing you can do to get the facts straight is to file a privacy act request on your clearance in Scattered Castles. You would file that with DNI and they will give you a copy of your records in Scattered Castles. The agency you mentioned uses Scattered Castles to hold the clearance of their employees so it would be stored there.
The records request will reveal a lot of information that should be helpful. If everything you mentioned is accurate, you should see a “suspended” status in your record when you worked for that agency. The record will not tell you why it was suspended, but it is helpful to know the status. If your clearance is still suspended, I would recommend consulting with a security clearance attorney about your options moving forward. You have rights when it comes to your security clearance and sounds like the government is not upholding them.
Your current job may have only checked DISS before they hired you. DISS and Scattered Castles do not talk to each other meaning your suspended clearance would not show up in DISS when they checked it.
They hold the clearance for that organization. They screwed me over when i was working for that same org since they hold the clearances for them.
Yes, funny you say that about DISS. I emailed my SM this morning and he came back saying that he checked DISS and the status is “Adjudication for Top Secret/SCI is in progress with DOD CAS”. He then called CAS and they told him that it is in progress and could not give him any further information. I went to the DNI website and am sending them a request for my records via email under the FOIA.
If Scattered Castles and DISS do not communicate, could there really be a scenario where my clearance is actually suspended and because my company uses DISS they have no idea? I feel that is a little crazy for me to be working using my clearance if it is actually suspended. Or is it suspended just with my previous agency, but not overall. As in, I can’t work for that agency, but can work elsewhere? When my SM pulled up my clearance on his computer it said that there was an investigation that was concluded in October, but it doesn’t say what the outcome was. He said it was because my previous agency does things “a little weird” so it’s not surprising. Very confusing and makes wonder if I should just chill and not rock the boat.
Just because you are cleared in DISS doesn’t mean you are clear in SC with that particular agency.
DISS is DOD and although NRO is technically DOD, CIA holds their clearances due to their lineage.
You can be cleared with DOD and not be cleared by other agencies.
Consider submitting a privacy act request to NRO for your adjudicative & investigative files. Suspension of access is not the same as suspension of eligibility. It is possible to have access suspended at one agency but not at another (e.g., a military reservist who is also a contractor employee and has a clearance for both jobs). Also in the past some contractor employees working in a building controlled by a DoD high side IC agency had their building passes revoked. This prevented them from enter the building and doing their job, so they were fired by their employers. Since there are no “procedural due process” rights for a building pass revocation, the IC agency was not required to do anything–no SOR, no appeal, nothing. There was a DoDIG report that mentioned this, but I’ve never seen any positive report concerning it.
1 Like
I did just that, and there is nothing in my records from Scattered Castles that says “suspended”. It just shows that my NRO clearance and SCI eligibility status says “cancelled”. There was an LBI investigation that was completed on Jun 30, and I was “suspended” on July 7. Could it be they found something in that LBI that warranted me being suspended? If so…should they have not let me know?
I got my Scattered Castles records from ODNI and my clearance in DISS says active, but my SCI status says inactive.
As far as NRO, both my clearance and SCI eligibility say “cancelled”.
So, I suppose you are correct that one can have an active clearance in DISS (DOD) and not have an active clearance in Scattered Castles (IC).
Thank you for the reply. I did request my records from ODNI. It came back with a couple interseting tidbits. One…there was an LBI that was complete on Jun 30. I was suspended on July 7. Maybe that has something to do with it? Also, the NRO debriefed me and my SCI Eligibilty Status says Cancelled. Also my clearance through NRO says Cancelled, as well. My clearance through DISS says active, but my SCI eligibility status says inactive. None of this really explains why my SCI is taking so long to process. Or why I was ever suspended from the NRO.
What records did you receive from ODNI? It’s my understanding that ODNI can only provide your Scattered Castles database record. Investigative and adjudicative records have to come from the agency that conducted the investigation and adjudicated eligibility. ODNI does not conduct investigations or adjudicated eligibility–not even for their own personnel and contractors.
I do not know why your status went from “Suspended” to “Cancelled.” What I do know is that anytime Scattered Castles says “Cancelled” it means you no longer have access to that program. In normal circumstances, your clearance should still be able to reinstated if you get a cleared job with 2 years of the day of the last debrief. I am not sure if this still applies given your circumstances.