Security Clearance: Obtain Government Jobs
Security clearance means the special status offered to a company or individual for accessing classified information. In some of the private companies there is the system of allowing private individuals to access the sensitive information. A clearance always does not imply that a person can get access to the classified information, but the concerned authorities should also be sure that the person is in genuine need of the information. Holding a post of authority, designation or rank does not authorize a person to access classified information.
In the United States, there are two types of security clearances viz. PCL or Personal Security Clearance and FCL or Facility Security Clearance. It is also referred as Eligibility for Access. It is the DISCO or Defense Industrial Security Clearance under the Department of Defense that is entrusted with the job of issuing security clearances. The DISCO is authorized to process and issue the Personnel clearances and Facility clearances for the all the defense contractor personnel and the defense contractor facilities.
There are also other departments in the US government that can issue clearances like the Department of Energy, Department of Homeland security etc., but it is the DOD (Department of Defense) that issues most number of clearances. The 3 levels of security clearances issued by the Department of Defense are as follows:
- Confidential– this is one of the easiest security clearances and can be obtained within a few weeks or months. In this case it is necessary to have a NACLC certification that records the last 7 years’ history of a person or a company and needs to be renewed after every 15 years.
- Secret- Also referred as Ordinary secret or Collateral secret, it is a time consuming process and can take up a whole year to complete the investigation. This requires the Local Agency Check, National Agency Check and also a Credit investigation. It has to be renewed after every 10 years.
- Top Secret- This requires the toughest clearance and it needs a Single Scope Background Investigation. Actually the information that are classified as Top secret are the one’s that are concerned with national security and are highly sensitive data. The renewal of the SSBI should be done every 5 years.
The clearances can be obtained after one submits an application form. The information that are supplied through the application form are personal information like address, marital status, employment history, educational background, mental health and also the financial status of the applicant. The clearance generally remains effective till time the individual is employed by the same contractor and there is also the need to access the information. But all this is done after the investigations are carried out periodically. The moment the person vacates the position for which the clearance was issued, the clearance gets terminated.
There are many types of jobs that require security clearances and this can range from the senior management level to that of a lower level manager. It is generally seen that the people who work for the Federal Government or are working as a Federal Contractor require security clearances. It is not always that the people who work as spies require security clearance.