In category: Security Clearance
Interim Secret for Contractor Roles: Access Limits and Employment Risk
An interim Secret is temporary eligibility, not a universal pass to every Secret-labeled task. For a contractor employee to receive classified access, the facility must be eligible at the needed level, the person must have a valid need-to-know and signed nondisclosure agreement, … more
Money Matters: How Personal Debt Can Cost You Your Security Clearance
Adopting a Lifestyle Compatible with Classified Work One of the more painful moments for a security clearance lawyer is watching Department Counsel, sworn to strip your client’s clearance, cross-examine them in a Guideline F, Financial Considerations proceeding. The car… more
Can You Get a Security Clearance Without a Job Offer?
One sentence of federal regulation disposes of most of this question. Since 24 February 2021, when the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual became binding regulation, 32 CFR 117.10(a)(7) has read: "Contractors will not submit requests for determination of eligibi… more
Unfiled Taxes and Your Clearance: What Investigators Do When You Have Not Filed
In a Department of Energy hearing decided on 20 October 2025, a clearance holder proved he had filed the two delinquent years alleged against him, documented that both tax authorities received the returns, and showed he had overpaid and owed nothing. The judge agreed the mitigati… more
Debt Consolidation, Payment Plans, and Bankruptcy: What Actually Mitigates Guideline F
Search the full text of Security Executive Agent Directive 4, all 27 pages, for "bankrupt." Nothing. Same for "consolidat." Same for "settle." The directive governing every federal adjudication since 8 June 2017 names none of the remedies people agonize over for months. That prov… more