Getting your Security Clearance

Whether you work for a private employer or a Federal agency . . . When you need access to classified national security information… the Federal agency Security Officer will have you fill out the Standard Form 86 via a secure website, allowing you to easily submit your form electronically. Once reviewed by the sponsoring agency, the electronic submission can then be passed directly to its investigative supplier. The manual submission of SF 86s that used to take hours to complete and days or weeks to process is now executed electronically within minutes and processed within hours. In addition, all of your data is saved for subsequent submissions, eliminating the need for you to "start from scratch."

It asks you for a lot of personal history information and a lot of names and addresses.

They’ll ask you to sign a form allowing Investigators access to personal records about you. They will also ask for your fingerprints.

The Federal Agency that needs you to have a clearance sends your forms and papers to OPM's Federal Investigations Processing Center.

The Processing Center requests Investigators all over the world to begin the investigation of your background.

Some Investigators are Federal employees, some are private Investigators working on a government contract. THEY ALL DO THE SAME WORK and follow the same laws, regulations, and rules.

• They review records about you. (Where you've worked, where you've gone to school, where you lived, and more)
• They check with the police.
• They check your credit.
• They talk to people who know you.

An Investigator may interview YOU to expand and clarify the information you put on the security questionnaire.

Reports from all theInvestigators are collected into a single file; The Report of Investigation. OPM will send this report to the Federal agency that asked them to investigate you. 

An agency should give you the opportunity to explain or refute negative or unclear information that could influence their clearance decision.

Once you have a security clearance, and the need for it continues, you must undergo a reinvestigation every 5, 10, or 15 years, depending on the level of your clearance.

When you no longer need a security clearance... if you leave that job or no longer need to have access to classified national security information... your security clearance is removed.

There is a lot more to it!

*For valuable information on working for the Federal Government, see Guide to the Federal Hiring Process.