Walking Away from a 3-Letter Agency for $80K—Am I Making a Mistake?

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

Hi all,

I wanted to get some advice from folks familiar with the clearance process and government job offers.

Right after graduating college last year, I received a Conditional Job Offer from a three-letter intelligence agency. The offer was for $55k/year, but it required me to go through the TS/SCI clearance process with polygraph. I accepted and have been in the clearance process for about a year.

Just last month, I was notified that I entered adjudication—so it’s clearly moving forward. However, I recently got a new offer from a private company (defense contractor) paying $80k/year, and they are willing to sponsor me for a Secret clearance only, not TS/SCI.

Now I’m getting cold feet. It feels wrong to walk away from the agency after they’ve invested a whole year into my clearance, but the financial jump is significant. I’m wrestling with this choice, and I’d appreciate your insight on a couple things:

What are the potential repercussions of voluntarily withdrawing from the clearance process at this stage? Would it affect me down the line if I ever want to reapply to the IC or elsewhere requiring TS/SCI?

Can I use my current clearance status (in adjudication for TS/SCI + poly) as a bargaining chip when negotiating salary or positioning myself with the private company?

Any advice, experiences, or thoughts would be really appreciated. Thanks for reading!

2

“It feels wrong to walk away from the agency after they’ve invested a whole year into my clearance, but the financial jump is significant. I’m wrestling with this choice…”

Ultimately, you’ll have to weigh what’s going to be most important to you, pay, benefits, perks, etc. Everyone’s going to have different life experiences that will influence what they’d do.

“What are the potential repercussions…”

Likely none.

“Would it affect me down the line if I…”

Very doubtful.

“Can I use my current clearance status (in adjudication for TS/SCI + poly) as a bargaining chip…”

It won’t hurt to ask.

You’re young, plenty of time in front of you, prioritize what’s important to you and weigh others’ experience and insight but don’t let it ‘completely direct’ your decisions, as we all live different lives. Nothing wrong with having two offers to choose from.

Best of luck!

3

I dont think most agencies will care if you back out. I only pause for the VA one, as I have heard they take it personally, but thats just hearsay. But I have heard it from more than a couple officers since joining. So it might impact your chances from that one agency, if thats the one you would be turning down.