Foreign Service Security Clearance Interview

I’d say I can’t believe I haven’t written anything since Memorial Day, but it’s really not that surprising.

It’s been more than four weeks since I had my interview with Mr. J, the gentleman who is (I think) managing my Security Clearance case.

We originally planned to meet at the Shirlington Library, but then Mr. J found out that they didn’t open until after lunch (we were meeting in the morning). We planned to do the interview at the tables set up outside of the library, but when we saw people going into the library and sitting down at the public computers, we decided to head in side where it was a little more quiet. About five minutes into the interview, the librarian kicked us out, saying that they were closed and they left the doors open for their contractors. So we went back to our original plan; luckily, it was a very nice day.

I’m not going to go into any details about our interview, but I’ll give you a general outline. We went over my SF-86 in detail so I could explain some of the things on there, and he asked me some questions about some of my answers and for more details on the places I’ve lived, foreign contacts, family, finances, etc.

All in all, the interview lasted for about an hour and a half. I think if we hadn’t had to move around so much in the beginning, it would have only taken an hour, but that’s okay. Mr. J was very nice, and very professional (not to mention very tall!). He really made me feel at ease during the entire process. I suppose he needs to bring my guard down if I’m going to feel comfortable answering so many questions about my personal life!

I’ve got two tips that I’m sure will apply to others below. Hopefully, in the next couple of days I’ll be able to post another update about my security clearance, I just need to make a few phone calls first.

Tip #1: If you have anything in your past, or on your SF-86, or on your credit report, and you think it’ll raise a red flag, do yourself a favor and come ready with an explanation. I have a particularly stupid incident on my credit from many years ago, and this is what worries me the most about getting my clearance. It’s been taken care of for years, but it still shows up on my credit report. So I wrote a letter, “to whom it may concern,” explaining the problem, the reason it happened, the steps I took to correct it, and that it will never ever happen again because I’m no longer young and stupid. I gave the letter to Mr. J and he added it to my file. So when the final review board is looking at my file, they’ll have a full explanation from me, and I won’t have to rely on Mr. J’s memory or notes. Of course, there’s room to do all of this on the SF-86 (extra pages and attachments, if you choose), but I decided to wait and see if I actually passed.

Tip #2: If you have any close family members who are naturalized citizens, bring a copy of their citizenship certificate (or US passport) along for your file. I didn’t think I would need this since I included Mom’s passport number and certificate number on my SF-86, but a few weeks later I was asked for it anyway.

Tags: security clearance