One of the more common myths around the security clearance process comes down to money: Many individuals assume their company or employer is required to pay for their security clearance, and that is why they are not allowed to maintain their clearance while on an unclassified contract, or upgrade their security clearance at any time.
The reality is employers don’t pay for security clearances. All costs related to a background investigation are paid for directly by the federal government, through appropriated funds. If an employer says they can’t put your security clearance application forward, it should be related to policy, not money.
Most employers would prefer to keep more of their employees eligible to access classified information. A security clearance has value to an employer, because it gives them the flexibility of moving talent into new cleared contracting opportunities. For years, many government contractors kept cleared employees on the ‘bench’ for that reason – maintaining their eligibility even if their clearance wasn’t actively being used. Enter Edward Snowden. Following Snowden’s Wikileaks dump, the government took a close look at who has clearances, and at what level. Then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper required desk audits of all cleared positions – resulting in a nearly 25% reduction in the number of security clearances. That means, today, employers can only maintain a clearance if the employee actively needs it.
If you are using your security clearance for your job, and your contract employer says they can’t maintain your clearance due to cost (a question we recently received) – your employer is either misrepresenting the situation with you, or is uninformed. There is a cost to maintaining a personnel security program, but it’s to cover bigger ticket items, like a SCIF, or keeping an FSO on staff. A background investigation isn’t a direct cost – just the time involved if the employer agrees to hire a candidate and begin paying them before the clearance is issued.
