The alcohol consumption adjudicative guideline says that “Excessive alcohol consumption often leads to the exercise of questionable judgment or the failure to control impulses, and can raise questions about an individual’s reliability and trustworthiness.”
- Involves a criminal offense
- Reflects a lack of judgment or discretion
- May make the individual vulnerable to coercion, exploitation, or duress
- Indicates a personality or emotional disorder
- Is of a public nature
A potential security clearance applicant on the ClearanceJobsBlog is concerned that an incident involving alcohol will come up over the course of the background investigation:
“A friend became black-out drunk and committed sex abuse against their spouse. Spouse did not report, except to discuss it with their family and friends. They have two children now, and no issues after friend sought marriage and alcohol counseling. Friend was never arrested or charged. Is this something that would be reportable to the agencies if disclosed on the SF-86? Or is this a career path the friend has to give up on ever pursuing?”
This is reportable because the friend sought out alcohol counseling (one of the ever questions).
William Henderson, ClearanceJobs news contributor notes, “When does drinking become a security concern? Alcohol is legal and its consumption, regardless of quantity, does not by itself trigger a security concern. Absent a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence, investigators and adjudicators look for indicators of current abuse or dependence.”
The Standard Form 86 (SF-86) asks applicants about alcohol use in the last seven years in section 24:
- If alcohol use negatively impacted the applicant’s work performance, personal or professional relationships, finances, or resulted in law enforcement intervention
- If the applicant voluntarily sought counseling or treatment for alcohol use
- If the applicant was ordered, advised, or asked to seek counseling or treatment for alcohol use
- If the applicant received counseling or treatment for alcohol use that wasn’t disclosed in response to the previous two questions
Federal agencies are concerned about excessive alcohol consumption because it can lead to questionable judgment or an inability to control impulses. These are not considered acceptable for access to classified information.
This alone isn’t necessarily a disqualification for obtaining a security clearance. Mitigating factors would be honesty and disclosing the incident on the SF-86, voluntarily completing counseling, and time passed. If the friend has been involved in other alcohol misuse, criminal activity, or other unsavory incidents, it may be a different story.
This question was posed from a subscriber at ClearanceJobsBlog.com, where you can read and discuss government security clearance process, how to get a security clearance job, and background investigations issues.
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. This article is intended as general information only and should not be construed as legal advice. Consult an attorney regarding your specific situation.
