<p>Has anyone got any experience with this? D has to apply for security clearance for a government internship she has been offered. She has quite a few Facebook contacts who are foreign students she has met in various ways (summer abroad, students from various countries at her current study abroad location, Chinese student who was her suitemate last year, etc.). Will this slow down processing of her application? It is unclear whether she needs to list those connections, but the new (more rigorous) form that came out this year requires info about foreign nationals you have “close and continuing contact with”. I have been looking on the internet, and what I have found is inconclusive.</p>
<p>Yes. She will have to disclose all contacts. Back in the dark ages, this could include people regularly interfaced with on internet newsgroups. She should talk to the security people at the company or govt agency about what is required.</p>
<p>Close and continuing contact includes e-mail and providing those contacts has been the case for a number of years now. Social media is becoming <em>the</em> way of gaining information.</p>
<p>:( Is she better off removing them from her social media now? She has not actually filled out her security application (they haven’t given her the links/forms yet, supposed to come next week). She hasn’t posted anything about her internship on her Facebook, nor does she intend to… Her internship is supposed to start in January, and she is already worried that her approval won’t come in time. Esp. because she is overseas this semester.</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t suggest it. She’ll have to say who they are either way, and by having them as friends, she can get their current contact information.</p>
<p>Interim approval usually happens in about two weeks. I think she has little to worry about.</p>
<p>It is better to disclose too much than not enough. I think the hard part nowdays is having to go from lots of people knowing everything about you (facebook/twitter/texting) to not so many and choosing who you can tell lots (but not everything) to. Disclosing doesn’t mean she doesn’t get the clearance, but it is something that will be queried in the interview and (hopefully) resolved/mitigated. </p>
<p>It is really hard to say what “close and continuing contact” is and if having someone be a friend on FB fits the bill. The security people are well-used to this and will be more than happy to answer questions. </p>
<p>She will have to list everywhere she’s lived for the past 7 years and someone who knew her well at that address, so have her collect info now rather than wait til the last minute.
Having an active clearance can be great job security.</p>
<p>There are times when it is really nice to be old and boring!</p>
<p>Oh, no… Don’t have her remove any friends. Looking like you’re “covering something up” is probably not a good idea (it’s possible for people with appropriate authorizations to get Facebook accounts that nullify people’s privacy settings, plus they can go back and look at people’s histories, as well), and besides that, there are plenty of people with security clearances who have foreign friends from all over the place. I mean, anybody who goes forward to grad school in their technical educations is going to have friends and colleagues from all over the place. A few of my structural engineering professors from grad school at University of Illinois are Iranian citizens… If there were some reason to preclude people who had friends and colleagues from countries that don’t have the best foreign relations with the United States, they’d have weeded out 98% of the top-level scientists and engineers from the government pool by now and would only have harbored the remaining few who are incredibly sheltered, anti-social, and xenophobic. Government agencies are notoriously daft, but they ain’t <em>that</em> daft…!</p>
<p>She should submit her paperwork and see how it goes. Her situation isn’t that unusual!</p>
<p>^ Exactly. All the folks I know with such clearance fit that profile: hugely global people. Would be rather scary if it went to only those who only associated with Americans when you think about it. Wanting to know about them doesn’t mean you can’t have them. Its the declaration that matters.</p>
<p>It will depend on the level of the security clearance. A sibling had a high level compartmentalized clearance shortly after I graduated from college. My friends were in all kinds of “different” careers and transitions and traveling all over the world in areas full of poltical turmoil and back then probably involved in some less than legal activities no doubt. The feds looked very closely at “me” as well as some of my friends while reviewing my sibling’s security clearance. I’m sure my parents were wringing their hands. If your D has nothing to hide then there are no worries and if it’s a lower security clearance as it most likely is for an internship it shouldn’t be too rigorous.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it is top secret. The highest level (at least that they tell us about :)). So they are strictest about carrying out all the interviews, etc. I don’t think she is just going to get interim approval in 2 weeks…</p>
<p>I suggested to her at least not to add any more friends for now unless they are US citizens.</p>
<p>The amount of information needed is significant. Country of citizenship, date of first contact, date of last contact, frequency of contact, etc. They ask a bunch of other stuff (address, dob, etc.), but some of it you can check “don’t know”. The problem is, D has something like 350 Facebook friends, and I bet 50 of them are foreign nationals. This is going to be a nightmare… Number one to collect the info, but mostly for the delay it may cause in her application. This level of clearance can take over a year to get in some cases, and she needs it in January.</p>
<p>Oh dear it’s a pain to gather that stuff. Don’t worry so much about the deadline, that is their problem not your d’s problem. Of course there wasn’t “facebook” thirty some years ago with my sibling. I didn’t live in the area where our parents (and sibling) were but I did hear “they” came to town and talked to the neighbors and some of the local “friends”. Most of what I (and my friends) went through were a few phone calls and some questions. For my friends it was mostly questions like "why were you in country XYZ and questions about their back and forth from the US to whatever country they were in. My life was so boring (grad school and work, no boyfriend, no social life I’m sure they were yawning and far more interested in what my friends were up to.) They didn’t question everyone just a few. Again it will depend on the specific clearance and specific project – my sib was involved in national security realted issues…there are many variables.</p>
<p>She needs to be as complete as possible, but there are things that she probably isn’t going to be able to find out. Concentrate first on those with whom she has the most contact, and then move down the list. If there are foreign nationals, she will need to get whatever she can on them.</p>
<p>One thing she doesn’t want to do is delay submitting the forms. If she needs more time, have her contact the security officer asap to let them know. </p>
<p>There will be interviews…how many is up to them. If she has any ‘prankster’ friends she should let them know that this is a serious matter & not to joke around (yes, it happens!). </p>
<p>Not disclosing something and having it show up later is far worse than being up front about it. </p>
<p>The ‘con’ of a clearance is that you no longer get to be the carefree, go anywhere, say & do anything w/o repercussions (young) adult. You really have to be able to think about what you’re doing and the impacts.</p>
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<p>I disagree. If they can’t clear you in time, you won’t get to keep the internship, as I’m sure the internship included a clause about “continuing your internship is contingent upon completion of the background investigation”. A lot of government agencies don’t even allow applicants for positions that need clearances if the applicant is abroad.</p>
<p>definitely don’t delete people to try to hide them from the investigators… that is bad.</p>
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<p>I’d suggest not to add <em>any</em> more friends for now, US citizens or no. Like buying a house-- avoid major transactions that might foul up your credit report once you’ve gotten preliminary approval on your loan. (Plus, some of the craziest crazies I know are US citizens!)</p>
<p>Does anyone know how they handle the interview if she is abroad? There is a US embassy in the city where she is living.</p>
<p>She and her friends had planned a trip across the border to another country yesterday. She went with them (since she is just making friends in her new city, and didn’t want to miss the bonding chance), but she said she thought about not going because she would then need to list it on her form.</p>
<p>The thing is, they haven’t even asked her to fill out the forms yet. She got the internship offer about 5 weeks ago, and it is confirmed, but they haven’t given her to info for this process except to say that she will have to it. Her internship coordinator is following up, and they expect to get it to her by the end of next week. She is just trying to be all ready to turn it around as fast and accurately as possible.</p>
<p>intparent, we will be going through this too! D is in Europe this semester and needs to get security clearance for the spring internship. I am on the lookout for papers to arrive in my mailbox to send on to her. She is doing all sorts of things this fall that will involve travel, meeting people, etc, that will make this harder.</p>
<p>The ‘paperwork’ will all be done on-line or with a downloaded program. She’ll probably mail a hardcopy w/signature back to the cognizant security office. There are DIS (or whatever they are calling themselves these days) agents all over. The interview will be scheduled soon after her paperwork is turned in. I heard recently that some of the processing is only taking 100 days. </p>
<p>Oh - and once she fills out the forms, she needs to print and keep a copy for herself forever and ever. If she stays in a job w/a clearance, she’ll need this info again and again.</p>
<p>It’s not just PhD techies with clearances - there are plenty of people with only undergrad degrees in accounting and english with high-level and not-so-high-level clearances.</p>
<p>Zeebamom, how do they handle the fingerprinting if she is abroad? I thought maybe through the embassy, but she just checked and found out that consular services are extremely limited due to building rehab going on for several months there. So not sure that would be the route.</p>
<p>So zeebamom, are you saying she was mistaken when she said something would be coming to her home address that she needed to fill out? I wonder why she doesn’t know that it is online. Now I’m a bit concerned, but with the time difference I won’t be able to reach her until tomorrow.</p>
<p>If they said that the forms would come by mail, then I guess the forms will come by mail. I haven’t filled out paper forms in years, literally. Only a couple of pages are printed and signed. I was thrilled when things went electronic due to my propensity for making errors, even on the ‘final’ copy. </p>
<p>The security office will tell her where to be fingerprinted. She shouldn’t worry about anything but collecting the data right now (all those contacts, places lived, phone numbers, etc.) It really isn’t that bad a process, just time consuming. The first time is the worst, it gets easier every time after ;)</p>
<p>More than likely, this is the form she will be filling out. <a href=“http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf86.pdf[/url]”>http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf86.pdf</a></p>