How to lose a security clearance in 10 ways

How to lose a security clearance in 10 days (or get it denied if you are in the Background Investigation (BI) process)

There are a few “issues” that are really hard to overcome.

1. Hiding or "forgetting" things - Raises issue of deceitfulness and willingness to lie or leave out crucial details. One or 2 "oopsies" may be overlooked, but if a pattern develops, bye-bye security clearance. Also getting caught in a lie is a definite killer.

2. Betrayal of loved ones - Shows you are willing to cross a line placed in front of you. Especially if you hid it from them (when it happened and after the fact). Opens up potential for blackmail or coercion. Even if you do confess and your spouse is “OK” with it, you crossed a line. For some agencies, even time may not heal this wound.

3. Denial of blame. Shows you are not accepting that you made a bad decision or decisions.

4. No plan to rectify your problems. If you don't admit you made a mistake how are you ever going to fully remediate it. If you are not taking proactive actions to remediate your past problems that shows that you might only do something if it benefits you. And that opens up a whole can of worms.

5. Still hanging with the same crowd. There is maybe 1 person that I hung around with in high school that I would still hang out with today. That is why criminals/smokers/druggies/etc have such a hard time quitting their "habits". They don't change their circle of friends or what is known in the security world as "circle of influence". When you don't change your surroundings you can easily fall back into the same habits.

6. Participating in socially taboo subjects or ones that would be shameful to the person if release to the public. Opens up blackmail concerns.

7. Doing stupid stuff that jeopardizes your clearance or clearance process. Getting a DUI the week before your polygraph is not the smartest thing to do. Neither is toking up a joint with your “buddies” the month before your PSI.

8. Thinking expunged or sealed means it can’t be found or has truly been “erased” from your files.

9. Thinking that a "no conviction", Not Guilty, or other outcome erases the fact you were arrested for something. If the question says EVER ARRESTED you have to answer yes and then provide your explanation.

10. Paperwork descrepancies. Not paying attention to the timelines mentioned. If it says 10 years you go back 10 years. If it says EVER it really does mean EVER, even if the other questions only went back 7 or 10 years. If your recruiter told you to lie on your forms when you entered the service and now your forms are not going to match up with the ones you submitted when you joined up, you need to tell them and explain what happened. Provideing the recruiters details will also help out.

 

These things below will mitigate MOST security issues.

1. Admit you were wrong and stupid (if necessary). This doesn’t mean that you may not have good explanations for what happened, but you need to take responsibility for what portion you can. The difference between an explanation and an excuse is where you place the blame.

2. Show how you have grown to be different from that person. Show your plan for correcting past mistakes.

3. Allow time to heal the wounds.

4. Cut the apron stings with people that do not have the same life goals that you do. Even though getting drunk every weekend happens a lot on college campuses, some students think that activity was actually a class and that is what they got their “degree” in. Time to separate the wheat from the chaff and move on.

5. Grow up and start making adult decisions.

I agree!  I noticed that in the clearance cases (from what i've read about the industrial clearances at DOHA), that it almost (and that's a big almost) didn't matter what you did as long as you admitted fault, and made a good faith effort to mitigate the issue.

people that either lived in denial, or blameshifted didn't get clearances.

But you would be qualified for Presisdent or Congress

This makes sense.  But what does a citizen do if someone they know is exhibiting many of these behaviors but has a high security clearance?  They believe themselves to be untouchable and above the rules and laws. 

Is there a way to report the person with the clearance?  I wouldn't even know where to start and assume the agencies protect their own.