All About Security Clearances

A security clearance is a determination that a person is able and willing to safeguard classified national security information. In order to make this determination, a personnel security background investigation is conducted. This investigation is noncriminal in nature and covers a defined period of normally no more than the past 10 years. The information collected must be sufficient to allow an affirmative or negative determination of a person's eligibility for access to classified information and suitability for employment.

The Bureau of Human Resources decides if a Department of State position requires a security clearance based on the duties and responsibilities of the position. If the position requires access to classified information, the position will be given an appropriate security classification and candidates applying to the position must submit to a personnel security background investigation.

Simple Steps

Step 1: The security clearance process for new employees begins after a candidate for employment has been given a conditional offer of employment and has completed the appropriate security questionnaire, usually a Standard Form 86, Questionnaire for National Security Positions, and other required forms. It is essential that job candidates complete the questionnaire and other required forms thoroughly, honestly, and with candor.

The hiring bureau or office will submit the completed security questionnaire and other forms to DS's Office of Personnel Security and Suitability.

Step 2: Once this security questionnaire and other forms, or the security clearance package, is received by the Office of Personnel Security and Suitability, it will be reviewed for completeness and the information formally entered into a case management system. National agency record checks and scanned fingerprint checks are then conducted. A case manager will direct the verification of key events and contacts from the candidate's past by initiating a background investigation.

Step 3: A critical step in the investigative process is the face-to-face interview the candidate will have with a DS investigator. This interview usually occurs within weeks of a candidate submitting a complete security clearance application package.

 
DS investigators are located in the United States and overseas. These investigators verify the information job candidates have supplied in their security clearance package, such as where candidates have lived, gone to school, and worked. Investigators talk to current and former neighbors, supervisors, co-workers, classmates, as well as to the references candidates have provided. Investigators verify educational records and may interview school sources. Investigators also contact law enforcement agencies in each of the places a candidate has lived, worked, or attended school.

Step 4: Once investigators have completed a report, highly trained security clearance adjudicators will weigh the results against existing adjudicative guidelines for security clearances.

Step 5: Most candidates or applicants will be granted a clearance, although complicating factors or derogatory findings may delay a decision or result in a denial of a security clearance for a job candidate.

Learn more about the security clearance process by reviewing our FAQs on security clearances. 

Interim Security Clearances

If the hiring bureau deems it necessary and appropriate, the Office of Personnel Security and Suitability may be able to grant an interim security clearance within a few weeks after a job candidate has submitted a complete security clearance application package. Final clearances usually are processed and adjudicated in less than 90 days.

Security Clearance Updates

Depending upon the type of clearance, State Department employees are subject to periodic reinvestigations at a minimum of every 5 years. The Office of Personnel Security and Suitability notifies employees when it is time for a periodic reinvestigation and provides the necessary forms and instructions.

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