Has anyone ever heard of a “waiver” or an “exception” for adjudicating a clearance? If you’ve passed the background investigation and adjudication process with flying colors, you probably have not contemplated the term.
This ClearanceJobsBlog subscriber had a colleague looking to transfer to another company and was told by the potential new employer FSO that their TS has a “waiver”.
Any idea what that even means? My friend never had issues with their clearance process (everything went smoothly in the pipeline, no appeals or anything). Assuming the adjudicating judge follows the 13 guidelines for eligibility, why would there even be a need for a waiver, if such a thing even exists?
WAIVERS AND EXCEPTIONS
Federal agencies are permitted to grant clearances with a set of conditions and make exceptions in granting those clearances. Governing language defines a waiver as “eligibility granted or continued despite the presence of substantial issue information that would normally preclude eligibility.” Adjudicating authorities can approve a waiver if the benefit of continued eligibility supersedes the security concern. A waiver may also require conditions for eligibility.
One commenter explains his experience after speaking with a company FSO: “The waiver is prepared as a condition of employment. The waiver letter states the employee has been selected and will undergo a thorough personnel security investigation and access to classified material or information will not be allowed until the employee has an appropriate security clearance. Approval of the waiver allows the employee to come onboard and begin training while the investigation is being conducted. If the employee cannot pass the personnel security investigation they will normally be terminated.”
WAIVER VS. INTERIM CLEARANCE
The DCSA Vetting Risk Operations Center (VROC) handles all interim security clearances and eligibility is issued when circumstances indicate access to classified information is consistent with the national security interest of the U.S. and favorable outcomes on initial criteria. Eligibility for an interim clearance is made simultaneously with the background investigation and remains in effect until completion (AKA final eligibility).
For the interim determination process, security clearances are only granted based on this criteria:
- Satisfactory review of your SF-86
- Satisfactory fingerprint checks
- Proof of U.S. citizenship
- Satisfactory review of the local records, if applicable
Essentially your application looks good, but there are a few more t’s to cross and i’s to dot. A waiver means that there is a potential issue in your background that needs to be monitored or taken into consideration.
William Henderson, ClearanceJobs contributor, notes that, “Exceptions have been around for a long time and explained in regulations covering SCI eligibility. In June 2017, “exceptions” were outlined in Security Executive Agent Directive 4 (SEAD-4), which includes the National Security Adjudicative Guidelines at Appendix A.”
Henderson goes on to explain that “There are 3 types of Exceptions–Waivers, Deviations, and Conditions. These are explained at Appendix C to SEAD-4. Waivers have long been used when an applicant for SCI had an immediate family member in a hostile country. To confuse things, the Bond Amendment (at Appendix B to SEAD-4) also allows “waivers” for certain types of conduct and conditions. The bottom line is that agencies don’t have to reciprocally accept clearances granted with an “exception” or a Bond Amendment waiver by another agency.”
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 ClearanceJobsBlog.com – 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.
