Access to classified information requires three conditions to be true at the same moment: a valid need-to-know, a favorable eligibility determination at the right level, and a signed non-disclosure agreement. Under 32 CFR 117.10, missing any one of the three means you do not have access. Candidates rarely put it that way. They say “active.” And “active” describes, at most, one of those three conditions, which is how a resume line like “Active TS/SCI” gets filtered out of a requisition it actually fits.

Recruiters and facility security officers screen on exact words because the government’s system of record stores exact states. Eligible, active, current, inactive, debriefed: these are not synonyms, and they are not interchangeable on a form. Say the wrong one and an applicant-tracking filter reads you as a different candidate than you are. Here is what each word means, and the paragraph of the regulation that defines it.

What does “eligible” mean, and why isn’t it access?

Eligibility is the verdict the CSA (your cognizant security agency) reaches under SEAD 4 that you may be granted access. It is a status recorded in the system of record. It is not permission to read anything. You can be fully eligible and hold zero access on the same day.

The regulation says it plainly: “The CSA will determine eligibility for access to classified information in accordance with SEAD 4 … and notify the contractor when eligibility has been granted” [117.10(a)(2)]. Eligibility is the adjudicated decision, nothing more. SEAD 4, effective 08 June 2017, is the single common standard behind that decision, and it supersedes every national security adjudicative guideline issued before it.

The decision rests on the whole-person concept: a careful weighing of all available, reliable information about you, favorable and unfavorable, past and present. Adjudicators work through 13 guidelines lettered A through M (Allegiance to the United States, Foreign Influence, Foreign Preference, Sexual Behavior, Personal Conduct, Financial Considerations, Alcohol Consumption, Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse, Psychological Conditions, Criminal Conduct, Handling Protected Information, Outside Activities, and Use of Information Technology) plus nine whole-person factors that gauge recency, seriousness, motivation, and the odds of recurrence. None of that produces “active.” It produces eligible.

If eligibility isn’t access, what is “active”?

“Active” is the street term for access: being read into classified information right now. The reg never grants access on eligibility alone. A contractor may give you access only when you hold a need-to-know, a favorable eligibility determination at the correct level, and a signed NDA [117.10(a)(1)(iii)]. All three. At once.

The non-disclosure agreement is the SF 312, and it has to be executed “prior to being granted access to classified information” [117.10(g)]. Need-to-know is narrower than most people assume: 32 CFR 117.3 defines it as a determination by the holder of the information that you require it “to perform tasks or services essential to the fulfillment of a classified contract or program.” Roll off that program and the need-to-know can end the same afternoon. Your access ends with it. Your eligibility does not. That gap is where most “active versus eligible” confusion lives, and it is worth understanding how interim access and full access differ before you describe either on a resume.

What do “current” and “in-scope” mean?

Current means your background investigation is recent enough, and wide enough in scope, to still support your eligibility level. It is a property of the investigation, not of you. Reciprocity between employers and reinstatement after a gap both turn on it [117.10(h)].

The reg ties portability directly to currency: “Any current eligibility determination … that is based on an investigation of a scope that meets or exceeds that necessary for the required level of access will provide the basis for a new eligibility determination” [117.10(h)(1)]. SEAD 7, effective November 9, 2018, makes that acceptance mandatory: agencies “shall accept” a qualifying prior investigation, which is why a cleared worker usually is not re-investigated to change contractors. Two investigative tiers underlie the levels: a moderate-risk tier for L, Confidential, and Secret access, and a high-risk tier for Q, Top Secret, and SCI [117.10(b)(1)].

What keeps an investigation current has changed. The legacy model reinvestigated cleared personnel no more often than every 5 years (GAO-22-104093); continuous vetting replaced it. Since 2021, DCSA has enrolled all DoD clearance holders in continuous vetting, an ongoing review of your background “at any time during the period of eligibility,” the way SEAD 6 defines continuous evaluation. Whether the record shows you as current sits in the databases that decide cleared hires; see Scattered Castles versus DISS.

What is “inactive,” or a “break in access”?

This is the exact line the word “active” blurs. A contractor can administratively terminate your access when there is no current requirement for it, while your eligibility stays intact [117.10(i)]. You are then eligible and current, but not in access. On a resume, that is not “active.” It is reinstatable.

117.10(i) spells out the restore path. If you again need access and have stayed in the contractor’s continuous employment, the contractor “may provide access … without further investigation … so long as the employee remains eligible … and has a current investigation of a scope that meets or exceeds that necessary for the access required and no new derogatory information is known.” Four conditions: continuous employment, retained eligibility, a current in-scope investigation, and a clean record since. Meet them and access switches back on with no new investigation. This is the mechanic behind a clearance crossover to a new contractor.

There is a window on how long a lapsed clearance stays reinstatable, but 32 CFR 117 does not state it as a fixed number of months. The only calendar figure in 117.10 is the 45-day pre-employment commitment. The operational reactivation window has its own number and its own page: the 24-month clock.

On a recompete, an incumbent’s clearance moves through these same mechanics, not through a nondisplacement rule. The FAR clause that once addressed keeping incumbent service workers, 52.222-17, was moved to [Reserved] in FAC 2026-01, effective March 13, 2026. What actually carries a cleared incumbent to the winning contractor now is reciprocity plus the break-in-access path above.

What does “debriefed” mean?

Debriefed is the out-processing step when access ends. You are briefed on your continuing obligations, and the contractor annotates the debriefing in its records; your access stops that day. A debrief ends access. It does not, by itself, end eligibility. A debriefed candidate can still be current and reinstatable.

People conflate “debriefed” with “lost my clearance.” Usually it is neither a loss of eligibility nor a mark against you; it is the administrative bookend to a job that no longer needs your access. The distinction matters on a resume. “Debriefed 2025, eligibility retained, investigation current” tells a security officer you are a reciprocity case. “Lost my clearance” tells them to route you to a new adjudication. Same person, very different requisition.

How long does a security clearance last after you leave the military?

There is no countdown that starts when you take off the uniform. What can lapse is not a clock on the clearance itself but two things under it: whether your investigation stays current, and whether a break in employment costs you your eligibility [117.10(j)].

The reg is blunt about the employment part: a contractor “may not provide access … to an employee who previously was eligible … but has had a break in employment that resulted in a loss of eligibility without a new eligibility determination by the CSA” [117.10(j)(2)]. So the honest answer to how long a security clearance lasts after the military is conditional. Land a cleared role while your investigation is still in scope and before a qualifying employment break, and your eligibility can carry across the transition under reciprocity. Wait too long, or let eligibility drop, and you are back to a fresh determination. The specifics of the military-separation case are their own topic: does your clearance expire when you leave the military.

How do the four words compare?

One screen, five states, and the paragraph that governs each.

What should you actually put on a resume?

Name the status, the level, the investigation, and the date, in that order. “TS/SCI eligibility, investigation in scope, currently in access” is unambiguous. “Active clearance” is not, because it silently claims a need-to-know you may no longer have.

The clearance application itself models the precision. The SF 86, the “Questionnaire for National Security Positions,” is completed in e-QIP and asks for a 10-year residence history with no gaps and 7 years of adverse employment events, certified under penalty of 18 U.S.C. 1001 (see the SF 86 on OPM). Facility security officers read your resume with the same literal eye that form demands. Give them the state, not the slang. For the employer’s side of why these words carry weight, see what 32 CFR Part 117 requires of a cleared employer. As continuous vetting hardens the record through 2026 and beyond, the gap between what you say and what the database shows only gets more expensive, and the candidates who clear the filter are the ones who write the state, not the slang.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is “active clearance” a real, official status?

No. “Active” is shorthand for being in access right now. The record stores three separate things: your eligibility, whether you currently hold access, and whether your investigation is in scope. A precise candidate states the eligibility level and the access status separately, because a security officer has to verify them separately.

Can I say I have a clearance after I have been debriefed?

Yes, if you phrase it accurately. A debrief ends access, not eligibility. If your eligibility is retained and your investigation is still current, say exactly that: eligible, current, not presently in access. Claiming “active” after a debrief overstates a need-to-know you no longer have.

How long does a security clearance last after leaving the military?

There is no fixed expiration clock tied to separation. Your eligibility can carry forward if you reach a cleared role before your investigation falls out of scope and before a break in employment triggers loss of eligibility [117.10(j)]. The reactivation window has its own number, tracked on the 24-month clock.

What is the difference between a suspended and a revoked clearance?

Suspension pauses access while eligibility is reviewed; revocation removes eligibility after due process. In the contractor process, if your eligibility is questioned you receive a Statement of Reasons and must answer within 20 days of receipt, and if you request a hearing you are notified at least 15 days in advance (32 CFR 155).

Does continuous vetting affect whether my clearance stays “current”?

It changes how currency is maintained. Instead of a periodic reinvestigation no more often than every 5 years, continuous vetting reviews enrolled clearance holders on an ongoing basis, and all DoD holders have been enrolled since 2021. Your eligibility stays current as long as that monitoring surfaces nothing disqualifying.