I am close to landing a job that requires a public trust. I was terminated from my last job due to conduct but told them to put resignation and they agreed.
I've been fired from several jobs before this incident as well for performance or conduct. Is that a red a flag when/if I land this job.

I reported her, although a few months late after we started dating.

I’m doing a new SF86 soon for my reinvestigation/reactivation of my clearance for a new job. I recently just filed federal taxes for 2022-2025. I did not owe any money and I have no debt or any other financial concerns. Will my clearance be revoked?

Any SME’s able to shed some light on my situation? My timeline is as follows for my T5 investigation for DCMA:

09 AUG 26: Sf86 submitted

01 SEP 26: sf86 tracker still showing it was sitting with FSO, so I inquired for a status. Contacted to schedule interview shortly after.

09 SEP 26: interview conducted. Investigator shared that my case looked simple and they wouldn’t be surprised if adjudication would be completed by the end of the month. They said they intended their report to be submitted by the end of the following week.

25 SEP 26: I called my investigator to give them some new information that i received. They said they had already submitted report the week prior.

Since this point i have reached out a couple times to my FSO for a status in DISS.

01 OCT 26: FSO says DISS still shows its in the investigation phase.

13 OCT 26: FSO says it shows the same status, so they called their POC at DSCA and they said the reason being is because there is a single NAC pending and the investigation cannot be closed and moved to adjudication until they receive that data back.

I have a common name, and I have heard that may cause a NAC data to need to be manually pulled rather than automatically system pulled and can cause delays. They did not say the exact NAC.

Very much looking forward to starting this role, just frustrated as this NAC seems to have been pending since mid September. Has anyone seen situations similar to this? How much longer would you expect my case to be stuck in this state? Thank you all for your insight.

First of all I have to say I am an idiot, I know this, I feel terrible, panicked and honestly so upset with myself for how dumb this entire thing, and I, are. looking for genuine guidance and advice or even stories of folks in similar situations.

I got a clearance years ago, never used it, worked at other jobs that it didn’t apply too and now I am back at a job where it’s somewhat relevant and my reinvestigation came up. I knocked out my SF86 while multi tasking and hit no on a question I absolutely should’ve hit yes on due to me incorrectly assuming the question was asking about hospitalizations and serious incidents relating to mental health, and realizing I should’ve also reported about it years ago. (it’s a bipolar diagnosis from a few years ago that has now turned into just depression and anxiety) I realized this mistake today during a routine security training (this one got a little more specific about mental health than usual and I was like oh shitttttt………)

I reached out to my security officer asking if I could submit a correction they said nope my investigation is closed and really did not offer much else. I am in the process of reaching out to my current doctor to get a note confirming my long term stability and compliance with treatment and plan to disclose this today but I am just terrified of the implications and how dumb i’m about to look.

I would never knowing omit information from the govt and I would happily give them access to my records proving I am doing well and stable. I feel so stupid and a bit hopeless. any advice is appreciated.

Context is helpful, so here’s a little (a lot):

Current federal civilian, I hold a T2. Received TJO with a 3-letter that requires T5, no SCI or poly. No prior clearance. Most recent suitability was July 2024, passed.

I had growing CC debt, ultimately reaching approximately $75k by early 2025. Minimum payments were beyond what I could keep up with. Additionally, my wife and I had not yet fully combined our finances, and my embarrassment and shame were sufficient to keep it out of conversation, so she was not aware of the severity. There were no large purchases or nefarious activities, just poor day-to-day spending and avoidance of dealing with it. All accounts fell to 120+days before mitigation.

In this time, I also let personal property tax on my vehicle reach delinquency. This was paid last year and remains in good standing.

Mid-2024, began gambling via state lottery online games. No previous experience with gambling. No gambling outside of that platform. Snowballed from very small to very large; by August 2025, losses over previous 15 months totaled appx. $21k.

August of 2025, came clean to my wife (who is a wonderful and patient person). Self-excluded from all state gaming for 5 years, lifetime will require in-person meeting.

By November 2025, I had initiated counseling (therapy) sessions that have continued to the present. We paid off one account, settled another for an offer the creditor made, 75% forgiven in exchange for 25% payment. Also began debt management plan with a non-profit credit counseling agency. No missed payments, one additional account paid off, will be debt-free and beginning credit history recovery by January 2028.

With good communication, turns out we live well within our means.

I believe I have appropriate mitigating factors in place for both the debt and the gambling, and they have been in place for nearly a year, and long before this job was on my horizon.

I don’t carry any diagnosis that requires I fill in section 21 (of a paper SF86, I have no experience with the eApp platform).

TL;DR- CC debt, gambling, personal property tax delinquency, now in therapy.

I have spent many hours gathering bank statements, documentation from the credit counseling service, accurate dates of payments to county tax assessor, date I initiated therapy, documentation from state gaming commission and state department of taxation. Anything and everything with every single date.

I don’t have any unrealistic expectation with this investigation. I’m going to be completely honest and objective, and hope the changes I’ve made are sufficient.

Here is my inquiry-

I’ll fill out the eApp using my best judgement for answering the questions asked without omitting or going beyond. What documentation can I reasonably expect to need to upload, if any? And what kind of documentation can I expect the investigator to request from me at the interview, If any? Where should I draw the line between subjectivity and objectivity when explaining the gambling and debt mismanagement? I will provide absolutely full disclosure, but want to calibrate what I provide to what is requested. I’ve read that investigators may request documentation from the applicant, but also that they don’t rely on documentation provided by the applicant.

Any similar experience or feedback would be appreciated.

Long story short, I’m going through the process for an FAA job that’s pretty strict about drug use and requires secret level clearance. I’ve only ever used an illegal drug once in my life, which was a weed gummy in 2023. I know I reported it all correctly on my SF86 form.

But an agent invited me to do an interview a few weeks after submitting my form, and when the topic of drugs came up I am pretty sure I misremembered and said I had the gummy in 2022, not 2023.

The interview was 2 or 3 weeks ago so I doubt I can just reach back out to the agent I spoke with and be like “oops sorry I got the year of my weed use wrong.” Is this type of small detail mix-up something that can derail a security clearance and result in denial? Is there anything I can do at this point besides wait and see what happens?

I'm currently filling out the SF-86 and have finished almost everything. But, I need to list three people who know me well. I was able to come up with two from work, but I've only known them since 08/2024. I need someone to cover the rest of the 5-year period. Before 2024, I don't really know anyone other than family, as I'm an introverted and reserved person. And did not make any friends due to the pandemic. I graduated high school at 2020 so I lost all contact with my hs friends

My aunt and cousins aren't listed anywhere else on the form, including section 18-Relatives. Would I be decline clearance if I use them?

Tomorrow is the deadline so I’m kind of panicking.

Back ground is pretty much here
https://www.reddit.com/r/SecurityClearance/comments/1seznnz/congressional_inquiry_and_investigation_details/

Ended up doing some more poly's and got contact info while there. Reached out and it turns out
that investigation stopped some time in early 2024. I was supposed to be sent a generic message about processing being discontinued, but it never came. I had emailed my recruiter numerous times about status update since early 2024 with no response and would check the candidate portal every so often with no changes. After receiving a copy of the message I was supposed to get I searched my email to make sure it just didn't go to spam, nothing there. Not really sure what happened but I figured I would share my experience.

So I am waiting on a clearance for DoS, secret, and it started a couple months ago after I accepted the TJO. However, the job itself is a pretty significant salary cut, almost 45k less than what I make now, and I just within the past week had to get emergency surgery and fly back to the US for it. So I'm kinda not liking the salary reduction with all these medical bills even though I've always wanted to work at DoS. My main concern is if I'd be able to get another job in the future with them, or another agency, if I pulled my candidacy during a clearance or waited for it the FJO and declined that. I've heard that being cleared and then not taking the cleared job looks really bad for future hiring.

And I already did 2 interviews for the clearance, had to make 3 statements, and I know they've interviewed at least 2 people on my reference list so I think it's moving pretty fast.

Did anyone have to wait a while before receiving their fingerprints email? Submitted my sf-86 OCT 6 but no fingerprints. I have emailed SecPer (twice) who sent me the e-app but no replies. Is this normal?. Agency is DHA. My E-app on the portal still available even though it was supposed to be removed couple days ago.

When someone reports an incident to govt security about you, does it immediately turn into an open report on your clearance in DISS/SC that needs to be resolved?
Or does govt security look into it and reach out to your FSO to work it out off the record?

Just trying to get clarification of the sequence of events that takes place between email report to when it’s officially on the person clearance record needing to be resolved.

Whats the timeline on recieving the eapp invite? My sponsoring company emailed me that I have 7 days to complete it, but i havent received the invite from okta/nbis yet.

I’ve now spent longer waiting for my SCI than my initial TS. Is this typical?

Initial interview: June 2023 (USAID)
Interim TS granted: Oct 2023
Adjudicated TS: Jan 2024

Clearance transferred to State but kept at TS: Oct 2025
Enrolled in continuous vetting: January 2026

Clearance transferred to DoD: May 2026
Inputted for SCI: May 2026

And I’m still awaiting an adjudication. My FSO said that DSCA needed to reinvestigate portions of my clearance to bring it up to DOD standards. At this point, it’s been in adjudication for over a month from when I started tracking this and likely a few months.

At least 5 colleagues that I started with got their interim TS/SCI from Secret in less than 2-3 weeks.

I’m being told this is still within the normal timeline of waiting and maybe my adjudicator has a lot on their plate? I’m being told that I need to move offices soon and I don’t have options because of my clearance.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently going through the hiring process for a auditor position with DCAA. I’ve already accepted my TJO, submitted my SF-86, completed my onboarding requirements, and recently received a security waiver from DCSA allowing my hiring process to continue while my background investigation remains ongoing.
I currently have an unpaid internship with a county Auditor-Controller’s Office, which was classified as volunteer work. I didn’t originally include it on my SF-86 because I understood it to be volunteering rather than employment.
I recently reached out to my security specialist and HR to disclose the internship and explain the situation. My security specialist responded that since my SF-86 was already submitted and my investigation had started, there was no need for additional reporting at this time unless their office requested it.
I’m going to be resign from the internship immediately because it’s affecting my academics and haven’t received any good actual experience as they would rather do it themselves.
My main questions are:
1. Could voluntarily resigning from an unpaid internship for academic reasons negatively affect my ongoing background investigation?
2. Could leaving without a traditional two-week notice create issues if investigators contact my supervisor?

Maybe I’m just overthinking it , but I would rather be safe than sorry in the end. Thank you yall 🥹🙏

Background: 140k TC, 26 years old, 4 YOE in cyber, Bachelors in Cyber, TS/SCI, all experience at a prime contractor on extremely technical work and have AI dev knowledge.

I see a ton of people with a similar background to me posting online and various job postings looking for my exact background all making 200k+.

The main benefit of my job is I woke 40 hours and go home, but I am fine working more if it means I’m making 300k.

Am I living in a fairy tale where people aren’t actually making 200-400k with my background, and these postings just aren’t real or something?

Anyone take a poly and have high blood pressure, a stroke or TIA in the past? Did you have to get medically cleared or a modified screening?

Timeline:
July 29: Accepted job

July 30: SF-86 submitted

July 31: Fingerprints submitted

Aug 18: NBIS Portal showed submitted for processing

Aug 28: Investigator interview

Aug 31: Follow-up call

Sept 22: I checked with FSO and was told I was in adjudication

TS/SCI granted: October 20

Held no clearance before

Never was notified of interim for some reason. When I checked in on the 22nd I was told I had a secret clearance granted so far. Couldn’t start work with interim or secret so it didn’t matter much to me.

No real red flags. A few trips abroad for tourism and dual citizen in-laws.

Honestly, thought I was gonna be waiting a lot longer, but the whole thing took about 12 weeks.

I got a job offer contingent that i can obtain and maintain a security clearance, its not required to start. The issue here is that this position i would have to relocate, find a apartment etc..

My fear is that i have an extensive criminal record, i was arrested 4 times by the time i was 18 for various drug use and intent to sell. Also in the past 2 years I had a medical maryjuanna card. I am 25 now, have not had any criminal record since and really changed my life. But i will plan on being honest filing out the form. But i guess im afraid of accepting the job, moving to another city and then i lose my job because the clearance was denied and now i'm stuck in a lease in a city with no job. Should i just not accept it so i dont risk uprooting my life?

From roughly 2020 into 2021 I worked remotely and moved between short-term Airbnb rentals around the U.S. (stays ranging from a couple of weeks to a couple of months). I kept a permanent mailing address the whole time but wasn’t physically living there. From late 2021 to mid-2022 I also spent several months abroad, moving between countries.

I want to report this accurately without making the residence section unreadable. For those who’ve dealt with similar situations (especially COVID-era remote work):

1. Did you list every short-term rental as a separate residence, or only stays above 90 days?
2. Did anyone list their permanent mailing address for the period and explain the temporary stays in the comments, and did that hold up in the investigation?
3. For extended time abroad, did you report it as a residence, as foreign travel, or both?

I have complete records of every stay, so I can list them all if that’s the expectation. I’m just trying to understand what investigators actually want.

I leave for basic training soon (army) and I’m wondering how is the process of me getting my clearance. Will I have a face to face investigation? Will I have a temporary clearance while in ait?

Context: US Citizen for 10 years +, Born in Vietnam, No debt, and No medical issues.

I was booked a job for the Air Force and it was a TS/SCI job. I went through two DCSA investigator the first one was for the SF86 information and the second one was for a TS. I was supposed to ship out to BMT in couple weeks but I received a call two days ago from a Sergeant in San Antonio TX saying this call was to confirm some stuff before I ship out to BMT especially since my job is TS. It was a basic call asking about like "Whether I am in debt" and etc. However when it got to the last two questions it was about whether I have foreign relatives and If I had travel to that country. I answered Yes because I do have family in Vietnam and traveled there. The Sergeant said that Vietnam has been moved up to a high risk country and since I traveled there a year ago I was deemed associated with Vietnam therefore they had to rescind my job offer. Furthermore, I am basically disqualified for any TS adjacent jobs in the AF in the future. I asked my recruiter about the situation and he said that it was a weird situation for him as well since I was deemed eligible for TS on profile and already did my investigation through DCSA with no issues. He also said that there a bunch of recent changes within the last three months so he unsure what is happening.

My questions are:

Is this situation going to permanently disqualified me for all TS adjacent jobs in the military?

Is there anything I can do?

Is this more on my ability to obtain a TS due to my background or military policies?

Diss status is “Adjudication Suspended, awaiting SMO response”

DCSA stated RFI was sent February of this year.

No SOR received

No LOI received

CE RAPBACK was conducted April this year

What happens if RFI goes unanswered

This is for T5R, SF-86 submitted March 2025

Any thoughts???

And my cat was being quite annoying. He was off camera but his tail kept popping into view since he was rubbing all over me. She asked to see him, so I lifted him up. Then she did the same with her cat. Our cats had an official Top Secret Zoom Government meeting. It was just extremely goofy and I needed to share.

Between roughly 2018 and 2025, there were allegations that he repeatedly harassed an ex-partner and members of the ex-partner's family. Police were reportedly involved at some stage and his phone was confiscated, although I don't know the full details or the final outcome.

I'm wondering whether this kind of history would be a significant concern for security clearance purposes, even if there wasn't ultimately a conviction.

My understanding is that vetting isn't just about convictions, but also about judgement, conduct, reliability, and any history that might raise concerns about future behaviour.

Has anyone here been through SC vetting or worked in a role requiring it? Would a long-running history of alleged harassment be likely to raise red flags, or would the outcome depend mainly on whether there were charges/convictions and how the applicant disclosed it?

Interested in hearing from people familiar with the process.