Individual Security Clearance
Tools:
Expanding Security Clearance Requirements
More than 1.5 million security clearances have been issued to privately-employed individuals. That number rising even as the standards for issuing such clearances are growing stricter. Clearance status is becoming a de facto standard for competitiveness and survival for companies and individuals involved in government contracting.
Security clearance appeals are very fact driven,but even where the facts offer reason to believe that an appeal can be successful, they must be organized and presented to answer the concerns raised. For example, it matters little in a case charging an applicant with intentional failure to report an arrest that the applicant is generally a law abiding citizen who is regarded as an upstanding member of his or her community. All arrests should be reported. However, if the applicant thought he or she did not have to report the arrest because, for example, it was for a minor offense or was a mistake or had been sealed, or if the arrest was simply forgotten as part of the distant past, a fair argument may be made that the failure to report was not motivated by an intention to deceive.
What Level of Security Clearance is Involved?
The three most common kinds of clearances are for:
• Public Trust Positions;
• National Security Positions; and
• Special Access Programs.
Public Trust Positions usually do not involve national security as we generally think of that term. Rather they are positions where the Applicant has access to government information that is generally not accessible by the public at large, such as social security numbers, and violation of the trust could impugn the integrity and efficiency of the particular agency’s mission. Such positions do not require a security clearance but do require a background investigation to determine “suitability” to be assigned to the position. Typically you must complete the SF85P to initiate the clearance process
National Security Positions are true “security clearance” cases, because they require access to classified information. You will be required to complete or update a form known as the SF-86 or e0QIP. If the information to which an Applicant is privy is revealed to the wrong party there is a real potential for damage to our national security, so the standards are considerably more rigid than is the case with public trust positions. There are three levels of classified access: Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret.
Special Access Programs (SAP), as the name implies, involve any program where access to information is on a “need-to-know” basis. SAPs are typically used in connection with “sensitive compartmented information” (SCI). Such programs typically include access controls beyond those normally provided in connection with access to confidential, secret, or top secret information.
Consequences of Loss Of Security Clearance
Losing a security clearance can be devastating. Individuals with security clearances often can command higher salaries, and have access to jobs not available to the general public at limited-access job fairs. (Other sites concerning salaries: [1], [2], [3].) When an individual who holds multiple clearances has one revoked or suspended, he or she may experience a domino effect as the suspension or revocation of one leads to precautionary suspension or revocation of others and the loss of employability in the fields in which they have made their careers. The consequence is to leave individuals whose clearances have been suspended or revoked with uncertain employment futures and highly-narrowed job prospects.
Things rest little better with such an individual's employer. While a long-standing well-performing employee is a valuable asset that should not be lightly discarded, there can be no assurance that a misguided suspension and revocation of clearance will be reversed; most are not. As to hiring a replacement, the very nature of the compartmentalized security clearance process means that there are not going to be a stable of qualified and cleared individuals looking for work; if an individual has the necessary clearance it is because he or she is already working on the project. As to hiring new employees without clearance, while provisional clearances are granted in a relatively short time frame in some instances, allowing for limited access to compartmentalized information, there is no assurance that the new employee will be cleared and the full security clearance process usually takes months if not years. E.g., [1], [2], [3], [4]. Consequently, when an employee's cleared status is threatened, there is no simple path for the employer to correcting the problem and sound business judgment counsels action on both the appeals and alternative personnel paths, although neither is likely to yield an efficient solution.
The first rule of any potential case is to plan to avoid things getting that far. You must know how properly to respond to questions on national security clearance/public trust position questionnaires such as the ubiquitous Standard Form 86 (SF-86 or EQIP). Take your time and read each question carefully. A well-prepared response to the questionnaire may avoid misunderstandings and troubling supplementations and a necessity for an appeal/review process. Completing this form accurately and fully is very important to avoiding the possibility of an adverse decision, and where the stakes are high for the individual or company seeking a clearance we believe professional assistance should be used from this first step. Legal counseling can also be beneficial prior to the security clearance interview. An attorney familiar with the process can brief an applicant about the types of questions asked and how a client with his or her own life’s baggage can respond to them. Concerns about potential issues can be aired with counsel and resolved.
Security Clearance Lawyer
Where an appeal is necessary, our security clearance lawyers have helped numerous clients organize their presentations and overcome the kinds of doubts and concerns we have found security clearance officers focus on. We have appeared before, and we have assisted clients in preparing pro se presentations to, the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA), various military Central Adjudication Facilities, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the NSA and the CIA.
We begin the process by reviewing all communications concerning the proposed action together with the investigative file, which anyone whose clearance is questioned is entitled to secure. We interview the client extensively and compile documentation relevant to responses we believe are required. We assemble relevant caselaw, to the extent such law is available (which varies by agency), we prepare written submissions, and we appear alongside our clients where the opportunity for a personal appearance is available.
Contact us for candid advice and a frank assessment of your case or situation.
10028 Woodhill Road
Bethesda, MD 20817
PHONE: (301) 469-8590
FAX: (301) 469-8120
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