Software Engineering - Whether to Reveal or Not

Author

Whether to Reveal or Not

Tmack

2005-05-26, 3:59 pm

I live in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Pretty much every IT job
requires a clearance of some kind. My problem is that I have not always
been a model citizen. I'm wondering how much a background check can
uncover for a low-level clearance, say a secret clearance. I'm not
proud of my past but it was a long time ago and far away. I have been a
model citizen from '94 to the present.

My background:
'87: OTH discharge (USN): commission of a serious offence - assault
'88: Drunk in public
'88: Drinking in public + littering
'92: Chapter 7 bankruptcy
'93: Misdemeanor conviction for threatening phone calls
'94: Arrested for DUI but convicted of a lesser charge of reckless
driving

Obviously, at first glance you would think "no how no way", but I
can only find three sources of documentation validating these
incidents. I realize that I would have to reveal those three incidents
but what about the ones that lack documentation to validate them?

What I did:

Checked with local police and courts where the incidents occurred

Had the state police run a criminal record check: "No conviction data
found"

Submitted my fingerprints to the FBI: "No arrest record found"

Drunk in public and the drinking in public + littering: Local police
station has arrest record but no conviction data

Military discharge: It's easy enough to verify a discharge so no way
to hide that

Bankruptcy: Again, the court will always have a record for that even
though I was not able to find it

Misdemeanor: No record of incident on file

DUI: No record of incident on file

Any thoughts on this?

Phlip

2005-05-26, 3:59 pm

Land[/url]

Donald McLean

2005-05-26, 3:59 pm

Security investigators aren't looking for saints, they're looking for
people that can be trusted with information whose divulgence could harm
national security or even directly threaten the lives of intelligence
agents and their contacts.

Part of what they want to know is "Can this person be completely honest
when complete honesty is required?" Another part is "Does this person
have things that they are hiding that could be used to blackmail them?"

If there are things in your past that you are not proud of that mostly
fall into the category of "young men's stupidity disease" then you are
much more likely to better off to admit to everything than to hope that
somehow the investigators don't find out about them. DoD investigators
are thorough, they are professionals and they will not stop until they
are sure.

Tmack wrote:
> Any thoughts on this?
>

gooch

2005-05-27, 4:01 pm

Tmack wrote:
> I live in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Pretty much every IT job
> requires a clearance of some kind. My problem is that I have not always
> been a model citizen. I'm wondering how much a background check can
> uncover for a low-level clearance, say a secret clearance. I'm not
> proud of my past but it was a long time ago and far away. I have been a
> model citizen from '94 to the present.
>
> My background:
> '87: OTH discharge (USN): commission of a serious offence - assault
> '88: Drunk in public
> '88: Drinking in public + littering
> '92: Chapter 7 bankruptcy
> '93: Misdemeanor conviction for threatening phone calls
> '94: Arrested for DUI but convicted of a lesser charge of reckless
> driving
>
> Obviously, at first glance you would think "no how no way", but I
> can only find three sources of documentation validating these
> incidents. I realize that I would have to reveal those three incidents
> but what about the ones that lack documentation to validate them?
>
> What I did:
>
> Checked with local police and courts where the incidents occurred
>
> Had the state police run a criminal record check: "No conviction data
> found"
>
> Submitted my fingerprints to the FBI: "No arrest record found"
>
> Drunk in public and the drinking in public + littering: Local police
> station has arrest record but no conviction data
>
> Military discharge: It's easy enough to verify a discharge so no way
> to hide that
>
> Bankruptcy: Again, the court will always have a record for that even
> though I was not able to find it
>
> Misdemeanor: No record of incident on file
>
> DUI: No record of incident on file
>
> Any thoughts on this?

You don't mention if you are currently in a position that is going to
require a clearance but if so you will find that your security officer
is going to cover this with you before you start the paperwork. Your
best bet is to just answer all questions as accurately as possible
because they will have the ability to locate more information on you
than you can. If they find something that you lied about they are
likely to deny you the clearance. If you tell them everything up front
you will be given an opportunity to explain (You will likely be given
an opportunity to explain even if you lie and they find it but it will
not look good that you lied in the first place).

If you are going for a secret clearance you will probably only need to
cover back 7 years but will be asked about any convictions going back
farther than that. From what you wrote you probably will not be
required to disclose all of this info anyway because they were not
convictions. In general one of the main things they are looking for are
things that you would like to keep hidden or money problems. The reason
being that you are more likely to sell secrets to get out of money
trouble or give them away to hide something you do not want getting
out.

Just tell the truth and you will more than likely be fine. They are not
looking for saints and they understand that people sometimes do stupid
things when they are young. One thing to keep in mind though is that
with all of this in your background your investigation may take
considerably longer than someone with a clean record.

H. S. Lahman

2005-05-27, 4:01 pm

Responding to Tmack...

> I live in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Pretty much every IT job
> requires a clearance of some kind. My problem is that I have not always
> been a model citizen. I'm wondering how much a background check can
> uncover for a low-level clearance, say a secret clearance. I'm not
> proud of my past but it was a long time ago and far away. I have been a
> model citizen from '94 to the present.
>
> My background:
> '87: OTH discharge (USN): commission of a serious offence - assault
> '88: Drunk in public
> '88: Drinking in public + littering
> '92: Chapter 7 bankruptcy
> '93: Misdemeanor conviction for threatening phone calls
> '94: Arrested for DUI but convicted of a lesser charge of reckless
> driving

Small potatoes. B-) High School ('53-'55) was vintage for me with
felony car theft (joy ride) and aggravated assault (knife fight)
arrests; neither got to court. In my College Years I added felony theft
of federal property (mail box), a firearms violation, and assorted D&D
violations, of which only the firearms violation got to court (not
guilty). For my first TS clearance I gave a bartender as a credit
reference. When the FBI showed up to ask about me he thought I was in
trouble again so he told them he never heard of me. I still got the
clearance. But...

>
> Obviously, at first glance you would think "no how no way", but I
> can only find three sources of documentation validating these
> incidents. I realize that I would have to reveal those three incidents
> but what about the ones that lack documentation to validate them?

Don't jerk them around. Any record makes them look deeper and if there
is any way to find out something they will. They just don't look up
records; they interview people who knew you at the time. If the flags
are up they will interview a lot of people who knew you. They will
likely kiss off youthful exuberance in favor of Mr Clean recent history
but if there is any hint you haven't been straight with them you can
kiss off the clearance. Hiding stuff is like carrying a sign: I can be
blackmailed.

[BTW, your '87 offense will probably worry them more than anything else
because it suggests an authority problem and lack of discipline, neither
of which correlate well with keeping secrets. Another problem for you
is that you were in the Navy /before/ the rest of the stuff, which says
you didn't grow up from that experience. Without a watershed event like
military service it is harder to rationalize why the record cleaned up
after '94. So I would expect them to look real close at the post-'94
years. (The fact that I had very clean years in the service /after/ my
Miscreant Years probably carried a lot of weight in my case in "purging
the record".)]

*************
There is nothing wrong with me that could
not be cured by a capful of Drano.

H. S. Lahman
hsl@pathfindermda.com
Pathfinder Solutions -- Put MDA to Work
http://www.pathfindermda.com
blog: http://pathfinderpeople.blogs.com/hslahman
(888)OOA-PATH

2005-05-28, 8:56 pm

"Tmack" <Terry.McKenna@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1117118015.801771.302030@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I live in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Pretty much every IT job
> requires a clearance of some kind. My problem is that I have not always
> been a model citizen. I'm wondering how much a background check can
> uncover for a low-level clearance, say a secret clearance. I'm not
> proud of my past but it was a long time ago and far away. I have been a
> model citizen from '94 to the present.
>
1) Do not lie in answer to any question. A lie will almost
certainly disqualify you.
2) Don't expect the investigators to be so stupid that they
will not discover the lie. They probably will.
3) Don't worry about youthful indiscretions. Everyone has them
somewhere in their background. You'd be surprised.
4) When you are open about those indiscretions, admit to them,
and treat them for what they are, you are not likely to be a
candidate for blackmail. This is a key issue in granting a
security clearance.

Richard Riehle

Tmack

2005-06-03, 3:57 am

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I'm going to follow your advise and
just fess-up. If I get the clearence great, if not, no harm done.

Thanks again.

Terry

Tmack

2005-06-03, 3:57 am

Thanks for the response. Very informative.

To answer the question about me not having any more issues post '94;
I finally met the right girl. She was my watershed event.

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