Will getting fired cause you to be denied a security clearance

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
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I am applying for several jobs right now which will require me to obtain a security clearance when I am hired. I have no unpaid debts, no outstanding delinquent accounts, no foreign travel or foreign contacts and no criminal record (save for a couple of speeding tickets). But in the past 5 years I have been fired twice, both times for conflicts with co-workers which led to spats and office confrontations. I wish these events had not gone down that way, but in both cases the other party, combined with management indifference, had continue to provoke me to a point where there was no other alternative but to respond this way. No crime was committed here but management fired me nonetheless.

I am curious whether this would result in me being denied a clearance. My first thought is probably not (but DON’T lie to the investigators about it!) as it did not have anything to do with my overall trustworthiness, but I dunno. I get the sense from reading over an SF86 that ANY kind of mark like that will disqualify me and that becomes a black mark if I ever attempt to apply for a clearance in the future. If we have any actual Dept of State investigators who post here, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

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I’m not an investigator but I can tell you that lots of people get fired for all kinds of different reasons. The issue you might face is the fact that on two separate occasions within the past five years you were terminated under very similar circumstances. That’s going to attract some attention.

There are very few single black marks that will automatically disqualify you, each case is different and each situation is different. But you should be prepared to explain why these cases happened and present your side of the story. Are you currently employed? A good track record at the current job will go a long way to mitigate these concerns.

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Make sure you explain yourself as to why these events happened. Have you done anything to improve yourself? Anger management classes? Have you thought about how you would handle these same situations in the future?? All of these things would be considered in your case.

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In my experience, all that it takes to be denied a security clearance are a few negative comments from co-workers, irrespective of how irrelevant that former casual job might be to the one which is being applied for.