You might be asking yourself – what kind of idiot doesn’t know whether or not they have a security clearance? But this happens to be one of the more frequently asked questions we receive here at ClearanceJobs.com (due to the fact that an active federal security clearance is required to register as a candidate on the site).
The best way I can explain the possibility of not knowing whether or not you have a security clearance is to tell you a little story about a young woman just entering federal service. She began working as a Department of Army intern. Like most young people new to federal service, she filled out a number of forms. Upon hiring, she was told a secret clearance was a requirement of the program, but she had never heard of terms like adjudicative criteria or SF-86. Despite having a good knowledge of government and international relations, this was a pre-Hillary’s server, pre-Bradley Manning, pre-Aaron Alexis, pre-Snowden era – security clearance topics were not exactly headline news.
As a new federal employee there are a number of forms to sign. First, you have to sign to accept the position, then you have the requisite suitability paperwork. At some point along the way, this new federal employee filled out a Standard Form 85 – Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions. The questionnaire asks for details like previous employers, character references, and sure looks like the kind of document you’d need to fill out to get a Secret security clearance. Unless you’re in the business, you’re really not going to know the difference between an SF-85 and an SF-86 (potato, ‘potahto’).
Fast forward about eight months and that same intern is now working at the Pentagon. The scope of work has become more sensitive, the responsibilities more broad. At some point along the way someone realizes that said intern, who is supposed to have a Secret clearance, only has a public trust. Whoopsy daisy. The new paperwork is rushed through and with approximately ten months of federal service under her belt, you can bet the intern in question now knows exactly what a public trust is, and what a Secret security clearance is.
In case you haven’t realized it yet, that intern was me. (Cue the audio). Yes, I’m the kind of idiot who worked in the Pentagon for 10 months thinking I had a level of clearance I really didn’t. And it took HR months to realize it, as well. It is, in fact, very plausible that an individual really doesn’t know whether or not they have a clearance. Incompetence and ignorance certainly played a roll in my case. In many other cases, young military recruits may not even have filled out their security clearance paperwork on their own, or have realized exactly what they were doing when they did (and they wouldn’t be the first individuals to have signed a form without reading the fine print). Another factor is ‘Loss of Jurisdiction’ or clearance revocation. You may not know if you still have a clearance, even if you know you did have one at some time.
What’s a confused (Potential) clearance holder to do?
If you’re wondering if you held a clearance in the past, your best bet is to make a FOIA or Privacy Act request. Click here for information on requesting a copy of your security clearance background investigation. With the paperwork in hand, you can see your clearance status, and what exact paperwork you filled out in the first place.
