?

3/3/2006 2:22:21 PM

get a job that requires you to have one.

an individual can not obtain one themself....you have to be sponsored.

plus its pretty expensive. i think its over $10k for secret, and over $100k for a top secret.



this should answer all your questions:

http://www.clearancejobs.com/security_clearance_faq.pdf

[Edited on March 3, 2006 at 2:32 PM. Reason : df]

3/3/2006 2:26:32 PM

you could become a military officer

i have a secret clearance, with a pretty good chance of getting a top secret clearance. i hope so...it's worth pretty good money when you get out.

3/3/2006 2:34:50 PM

i dont think i would want to go through the bullshit required to get a TS.

way too much intrusion on the personal life.

3/3/2006 2:36:45 PM

Quote :

"get a job that requires you to have one."

yup, although this can be tough sometimes because a lot of jobs that require you to have it want you to already have it before they hire you.


what do you want it for and what level do you want?

3/3/2006 2:37:22 PM

Quote :

"yup, although this can be tough sometimes because a lot of jobs that require you to have it want you to already have it before they hire you."

most entry level jobs wont expect you to have on already, so they will pay for it.

many of those jobs require that you be "pre-screened" though so they can see if theres a chance you wont pass. i had to get clearance for my job, but the offer wasnt dependent on me passing.

3/3/2006 2:40:31 PM

entry level jobs often only need a confidential clearance. hell, i'm just a co-op and have a confidential clearance.

I was more talking about a secret or top secret clearance, which entry level positions don't normally require. But that isn't to say that some entry level positions don't require it.

3/3/2006 2:50:54 PM

i can only speak about the defense industry, because thats all i have experience with, but all the companies i applied with start off their employees with secret clearance. as far as engineering is concerned, you're not going to be able to do much with a confidential clearance (on a classified program).

in my work, just because its an entry level job, doesnt really mean anything when it comes to what level of clearance you need...it depends on the program that you are working on. there are plenty of people that i started with (right out of college about 1.5-2 years ago) that have TS clearances. computer science grads often have to get TS because of the nature of the information they are exposed to.

im sure that its different for differrent types of work..thats just from an defense industry engineering perspective.

[Edited on March 3, 2006 at 2:58 PM. Reason : dfd]

3/3/2006 2:56:21 PM

those things take forever..............................

3/3/2006 2:56:30 PM

if you have an engineering degree and a secert clearance you are GOLDEN for a job with the gov. I worked for a contractor and they sponsered me to Secret. This is about the ONLY way you can get one unless you have a PhD and they need your expertise on a project.

3/3/2006 2:56:48 PM

a friend of mine had to get security clearance for a position in the DOD. I don't know all that it entailed, but they did call her friends and ask them questions.

3/3/2006 2:57:09 PM

For a TS you fill out paperwork, give them contacts for every place you've lived (and if you were like me and had moved every year you were in college, that gets pretty tedious), contacts for every job you've had, etc. They only go back a certain number of years. If one of your parents is, or you are married to a foreign national, be prepared to wait even longer. They interview you, and will more than likely interview anyone you put down as a contact (phone or sit-down interview). They ask everyone the same questions, or they did for us (they actually asked my mom when the first time she met me was).
It takes forever.

3/3/2006 3:33:26 PM

join the military

3/3/2006 3:35:44 PM

^ that's the easiest way and popular with sleepers

3/3/2006 3:51:36 PM

Quote :

"plus its pretty expensive. i think its over $10k for secret, and over $100k for a top secret. "

wtf?


A secret is pretty easy to get. It's just paper work.

3/3/2006 6:36:36 PM

does criminal charges automaically disqualify you?

3/3/2006 6:37:56 PM

No, but they can still deny for it. They look at your whole background and get an overall picture of what kind of risk you are. The charges are mitigated by how long ago it was and your age when you did stupid shit.

Charges do significantly increase the time it takes to get a clearance, though. You could easily wait a year in limbo, which probably translates to shit work for a year.


Some of our interns even get secret clearances, so it has nothing to do with entry level or not

[Edited on March 3, 2006 at 6:42 PM. Reason : sdfsdf]

3/3/2006 6:40:18 PM

Quote :

"does criminal charges automaically disqualify you?"

no but poor grammar might

3/3/2006 6:40:52 PM

2 misdemeanors that are 10+ years old, and i want to work at the patent office

3/3/2006 6:42:16 PM

I would guess that that would not be a problem, but im not an expert on the process. you should actually google for clearance requests and misdemeanors because they post rulings online.

that will give you an idea of the standard.

[Edited on March 3, 2006 at 6:44 PM. Reason : dsafsd]

3/3/2006 6:43:49 PM

thanks for the confidence, i will snoop the web and see what i find

3/3/2006 6:45:46 PM

My dad used to work for the DOD (DIS, then DSS) for 15 years. He did the background investigations, and made recommendations as to whether or not the candidate was qualified for the security clearance they were trying to get.


From what he told me, "secret" is easy. You have to be a real fuckup to not get a secret clearance. The higher up you go, the longer it takes because the more in-depth they have to go. They can (and will) look at:

your taxes
your credit history
your bank statements
your ethnic background
your grades in school
your political party affliation
your friends
your family
where you've lived
who you've been around
who THEY'VE been around
things you've said
your criminal history





I think you get the point

3/3/2006 7:33:15 PM

If they bring TWW into the picture you're fucked.

3/3/2006 7:42:12 PM

^ Yeah, pretty much.




Everyone might think it's all fun and games here, but if they wanted security clearance and said anything even remotely scandalous on here and your investigator found out, you can pretty much bet it'd be over.

3/3/2006 7:44:16 PM

what does they analyze when they look at your ethnic background?

3/3/2006 8:23:10 PM

Quote :

"your political party affliation "

a) i hope you're talking about being a libertarian or communist or something

b) even if that is the case, it still seems illegal to me

security clearance should not be dependent on general political viewpoints

just affiliation with active groups KNOWN to be anti-american

Quote :

"your ethnic background "

oh, and that's just bullshit right there

[Edited on March 3, 2006 at 8:28 PM. Reason : .]

3/3/2006 8:27:45 PM

Quote :

"what does they analyze when they look at your ethnic background?"

i hope you're just doing this on purpose

3/3/2006 8:49:26 PM

tww is my only worry for a clearance

good thing no one really knows who the fuck i am on here and i don't reveal anything to controversial

3/3/2006 11:07:11 PM

my experience: internship required a SECRET clearance, company paid for it, and i had to give them permission to do a criminal background check and credit check.

going back for full time, will probably need a TS clearanc with same company, should be a fairly easy transition (i hope) since nothing has really changed

3/3/2006 11:10:43 PM

sleep with

3/3/2006 11:12:40 PM

^LMAO UBER GG

I did a delivery to a Glaxo lab once... it was literally easier to get into the Pentagon.

3/4/2006 1:13:03 AM

trust me, nastoute, I'm not making the shit up

3/4/2006 12:50:21 PM

yeah, i just realized ethinic background really means

are you chinese or not, etc...

3/4/2006 12:52:18 PM

For my secret clearance I had to fill out a TON of paperwork. It took a few hours straight through to just fill out the application. The above posters were pretty much right on with secret. They require that you fill in everywhere you lived the past 10 years or so and you also have to include references that can verify you lived there. Since DoD is so backed up in processing clearances you have to have done some serious shit to not get a secret clearance. In most cases they don't even call your references. They will just do a background check and if you come up clean then you get it. I got mine in 2005 and it took about 6 months from when I applied until it went through. My company sponsored me and I believe they said it cost around $14,000 at the time.

Top Secret they are basically going to do a full rectil exam and interview everyone you have ever met. Lots of programers and business development people require a TS, as do all the big time executives for defense contractors.

3/4/2006 3:04:42 PM

join the Army. I had a SECRET clearance.

3/4/2006 3:10:20 PM

^^ for a TS, they give you a spelling test, too.

3/4/2006 3:15:42 PM

i had whatever they give you when you enlist

3/4/2006 3:40:11 PM

^a deathwish

3/4/2006 4:18:30 PM

^^prob nothing. maybe confidential or something. all officers get at least secret, but i doubt that they get a secret clearance for every E-1 in the military.

might be worth checking on to be sure, though. clearances can be worth money, as stated eleventeen other times in this thread.

3/4/2006 4:42:21 PM

in the process of getting MBI Security Clearance by the IRS so I can handle their network issue cases at work

for each time ive been overseas, they want 5 "references" to prove i was where i said i was

3/4/2006 4:59:01 PM

i know i had one, i stil have the paper work. nothing special though

3/4/2006 5:27:21 PM

i don't keep in contact with anyone though, so i can't really give references

3/4/2006 8:05:09 PM

Quote :

"Towelie: Hold on. [hops on the box and types into the entry pad again.] Wait a second [presses a few buttons] That's it! Kyle: That's it? Towelie: Yeah. That's the melody to "Funky Town." [starts playing the melody on the keypad] Won't ya take me down... to Funky Town. "

3/4/2006 8:30:54 PM

I'm not sure all government agencies are the same in evaluating SC. Are DoD and DOE SC the same? When I came to work at the national lab I work at now they did call all the references given. I've heard it is rather invasive to go further up in SC than I am now.

3/4/2006 8:42:53 PM

I thought DSS handled all clearances for all agencies. I could be wrong

3/5/2006 2:07:38 AM

I don't remember the security clearance required for this one, but I remember the U.S. nuclear weapons manufacturing company being at one of the career fair. You applied for a job not now, but for a year in advance, because it would take that long to process the paperwork.

3/5/2006 7:54:52 AM

^ That was likely for a TS+ clearance given the security surrounding our nuclear weapons program.

^^ DSS does not handle all clearances. However, they handled mine since I was working with the State Dept at the time. Im pretty sure that they have recently consolidated the security clearance stuff into one department, OMB maybe?

3/5/2006 10:46:41 PM

From the link at the top of the page

Quote :

"Agents or contract agents with the Office of Personnel Management use both electronic and human means to investigate each clearance candidate. The Defense Security Service (DSS) no longer conducts personnel clearance investigations."

3/6/2006 9:21:49 AM

[Edited on March 6, 2006 at 12:52 PM. Reason : .]

3/6/2006 12:52:03 PM

^^ Yeah, I meant OPM not OMB in my previous post. And when I mentioned DSS for my clearance, I was referring to Diplomatic Security Service not Defense.

3/6/2006 1:48:47 PM