The general assumption at the company is that the security clearance delay is mostly just unfortunate timing - the current turmoil in the Ukraine is delaying the background investigations, and perhaps making them be more thorough. She did live there for a few months, so it wasn’t just a quick vacation. But of course the government doesn’t actually tell you what the problem is, so it could be unrelated to the travel. Either way good records of travels are important to have.
In 2010, a top security clearance could take over a year, so 8 months doesn’t sound that long to me.
Interesting that your D is in part motivated by the desire to live abroad and travel for living. This travel bug may or may not be long lived. I have one nomadic kid who has spent more time overseas than in the US after graduating from college. This is what she dreamed about… and recently she confided that this constant living out of suitcases is getting somewhat old. She has one more assignment coming up in January, and after that she wants to settle in the US. She is finishing her graduate studies and for the first time since undergrad has an apartment without a roomie. In case you were wondering how she ended up working overseas, her background in biology and public health took her on that path.
(I just counted - including Canada, she has been to 15 foreign countries! Her chances of ever becoming a spy are nil. 
)
@HImom Basic TS SCI’s are taking 9+ months. The OPM hack has caused a huge slow down for even a TS.
(I just counted - including Canada, she has been to 15 foreign countries! Her chances of ever becoming a spy are nil. ) >>
I think my DD is at 23 now.
Lol, cap. Many more to go.
My Ds goal is to work with the FBI in an analytical way of some sort. She originally became interested in profiling from watching television shows like Criminal Minds, etc. As she matures she is starting to branch out in her thinking and realizes that getting jobs working in the field is very difficult and that she is probably more suited to something a little less dangerous. At this given moment, I think she’d like to be “Abby” from CSI lol. Her majors are Applied Math and Genetic Bio. She hopes to get certified in actuarial science.
As for security clearance my son is in the USAF and has acquired top level security clearance. It took over a year (2012) and the powers to be made the trip to our little town and questioned his football coach, our elderly neighbor, and a few others (I only know about those that called me after the fact). I had to fill out a questionairre but they never presonally contact me. While he didn’t travel much as a child, we did take several trips to Mexico and a few cruises. My daughter has traveled a bit more than that, having done a homestay in Italy and a few other things.
She will be doing independent study of Arabic in hopes that she can get into the Department of State language program after her sophmore year. I"ll have to take a look at the undergraduate internships with the CIA and FBI that someone mentioned here.
Yea, when a loved one was going for a security clearance, they came to HI & visited, talked in person with EVERY employer, former neighbors, the whole works. They were in HI for several days, flew the candidate to DC and did lots of testing and questioning. It was a very involved process. Cloak and dagger work is not for most folks and not what many may dream it is.
Well, she might be interested the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies at Ole Miss. They also have a Chinese Flagship and I think they are trying for an Arabic one.
http://ciss.olemiss.edu/
I want to be Abby, too.
most likely, the paperwork is sitting on someone’s desk in a pile. They are probably not doing 8 months of work on it.
interesting article I read recently about how the Soviet Union knew who many of the CIA people operating overseas were: http://www.salon.com/2015/09/26/how_to_explain_the_kgbs_amazing_success_identifying_cia_agents_in_the_field/
There are many other jobs in the intelligence community and foreign affairs arena other than “spy” that involve overseas work and travel.
DS is only at 14 foreign countries, but one of them is Libya and we (parents) were interviewed for Al Jazeera TV. (Not that he’d be interested in a job in the field or one that involved learning languages other than programming languages.)
To our knowledge, we don’t know any spies, but we do know kids who are likely to be recruited heavily by the NSA etc for cybersecurity. One kid got pretty far along in the process for a $50K/year scholarship from the NSA (with working for the NSA afterward as a condition of the scholarship). He passed the polygraph, but it seemed like the extensive psychological testing likely tripped him up or their need for some more diverse hires.
We’ve been interviewed in person for security clearances for friends from grad school who went on to jobs at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore.
My yds wanted to be an FBI agent from the time he was 11 or so,but…life’s journey took him away from that dream in the end.
I honestly never knew anyone who WANTED to be a spy but do know some folks who have worked with very high security clearances and one female who married someone who did a significant amount of mysterious travel.
Researchers can do a lot of travel. My doc in Denver has presented in conferences all over the world, literally. Our neighbor and one of my board members have traveled to many parts of the world as an economist and another as a math and science curriculum professor. Airline employees can also travel a great deal.
If travel and adventure is a priority, lots of ways to do it.
I guess, behind all the reasonable advice on this thread, I hope OP’s daughter has her feet on the ground.
Those looking for travel and adventure are often easily satisfied.
also, if you are interested in the types of jobs in the OP, one important piece of advice is: DO NOT JOIN THE PEACE CORPS
seems like it might be a good fit, as it gets you foreign travel and extended experience in a foreign culture.
But it is a big no-no, and it is that way for the safety of the people in the Peace Corps.
The standard waiting period for those with Peace Corp experience is that they cannot be hired into the intelligence community within 5 years after leaving the PC. Anyone with former intelligence background cannot work for the PC, ever.