Relationships are messy, and divulging some of your relationship skeletons in the closet can be daunting. But if you are in a secretive relationship with a convicted felon as a security clearance holder, it may cause some security concerns.
One subscriber to the ClearanceJobsBlog writes:
This is a big mess and I am afraid that I may be in trouble. I’ve became romantically involved with a friend, who is a convicted felon, about a year ago and because we aren’t ready to label things, we still tell everyone we are just friends. My TS clearance renewal was due soon, I was concerned about how his background may affect me, so we became even more secretive about our “relationship,” even going as far as limiting when he spent time at my house, not allowing him to leave personal belongings at my house, etc (maybe a little overboard, I know). As far as anyone knows, we are still just friends. But during my reinvestigation, I didn’t mention him as a close associate or mention him at all.
A few months ago, he was arrested for a domestic battery against his ex-girlfriend. I can’t say what happened or not, I wasn’t there, but I am reconsidering the relationship (please don’t judge me, these things are never easy). He was going to trial, but finally accepted a plea. However, during this whole mess, my name came up because she was one of the few people who did know about us and also knows that we were keeping the relationship a secret because of my clearance review. She also shared knowledge of this information with the State’s Attorney as evidence relating the case and his lack of credibility. So, info about our relationship and why we are hiding it is in the court documents somewhere. Further, prior to this, I had a 6yr affair with a married man, which my boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend also knew about. This man was separated from his wife and she did know about us, so I never divulged that affair in my prior clearance investigations. He passed away why we were still together about 8 months prior to me getting involved with my friend.
Can any of this come back to haunt me? Should I just go ahead and come clean?
RLATIONSHIP QUESTIONS ON THE SF-86
The questions surrounding romantic relationships in Section 17 are geared toward marriages, divorces, separations, domestic partnerships, annulments or if you are widowed.
However, if you are currently “living together” with your convicted felonious friend, this specific question would apply:
Do you presently reside with a person, other than a spouse or legally recognized civil union/domestic (If NO, proceed to Section 18) partner, with whom you share bonds of affection, obligation, or other commitment, as opposed to a person with whom you live for reasons of convenience (e.g. a roommate)? If so, complete the following. If the person was born outside the U.S., provide citizenship information.
If you were living together while you filled out the SF-86, you may have put false information on the form.
BLACKMAIL CONCERNS
Think back to your background investigation and subject interviews. Were you asked about your romantic relationships? If so, and you did not mention your friend, you lied to an investigator.
Along with lying, blackmail sounds like a bigger concern since you are so secretive about the relationship.
One investigator on the thread writes:
During the investigation interview every single issue that is discussed the investigator will ask ‘can this be used against you for blackmail, pressure, coercion, exploitation, or duress’. If you are worried about the information falling into the wrong hands the answer to that question would be yes which makes you a CI concern because someone can get ahold of that information and use it to manipulate you to do something you would not normally do to include betraying your country, your government, your peers, and compromise sensitive, confidential, classified, private, privileged, or proprietary information. You become a target for espionage and a liability to our country.
Honesty is always the best policy, so if your hopes are to try and maintain your clearance and subsequent clearance job, coming clean could be a step in the right direction.
Much about the clearance process resembles the Pirate’s Code: “more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.” This case-by-case system is meant to consider the whole person, increase process security, and allow the lowest-risk/highest-need candidates to complete the process. However, it also creates a lot of questions for applicants. For this reason, ClearanceJobs maintains the ClearanceJobsBlog – a forum where clearance seekers can ask the cleared community for advice on their specific security concerns. Ask CJ explores questions posed on the ClearanceJobs Blog forum, emails received, and comments from this site.
