• The intelligence community (e.g., Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency)
• Federal law enforcement agencies (e.g., Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Naval Criminal Investigative Service)
• Diplomatic agencies (e.g., State Department, United States Agency for International Development)
• Civilian military agencies (e.g., Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Security Service)

Overseas Job Search

Companies with contracts or grants with the federal government may require employees to have a security clearance to access sensitive information. No company without a contract with the federal government can independently give or seek a security clearance, and no individual who is not hired by the federal government or a contract organization can get a security clearance.

Once the agency selects a candidate to hire, the applicant will receive a job offer contingent upon successfully obtaining a security clearance. The extensive background investigation takes place after the offer has been accepted and the required forms have been completed.

The type of background investigation depends on the position’s requirements as well as the level of security clearance needed for the position. This process can take several months or up to a year depending on the backlog, the need for more information, the depth of the investigation process, and other factors.

The Background Investigation

A background investigation begins after an applicant has received a conditional offer from an agency and has completed the forms required to begin the process. The Standard Form 86, Questionnaire for National Security Positions, is usually required.

Department of State: Steps to complete a background investigation after required forms are submitted source: https://www.state.gov/m/ds/clearances/c10978.htm

1. Human resources submit the completed security package to the State Department’s Office of Personnel Security and Suitability.
2. The security package is reviewed for completeness and is formally entered into a case management system.
3. National agency record checks and scanned fingerprint checks are then conducted.
4. A case manager is assigned to direct the background investigation to cover key events and contacts from the applicant’s past and present history.
5. Applicants are contacted by an investigator for an in-person interview (This interview usually occurs within a few weeks of an individual submitting a complete security clearance package.)
6. The investigator verifies the information supplied in the security package, such as where the applicant lived, went to school, and worked. Investigators talk to current and former neighbors, supervisors, co-workers, and classmates, as well as the references included in the package. Investigators also contact law enforcement agencies in each of the places an individual has lived, worked, or attended school.
7. Once the investigator has completed their report, security clearance adjudicators weigh the results against existing adjudicative guidelines for security clearances.
8. The applicant is informed whether a security clearance has been granted. There are complicating factors that may delay a decision or result in a denial of a security clearance.

To help accelerate the process, begin to gather relevant information now so you can submit the relevant forms and information once you are offered a position. You can view the forms for background checks (SF-85: Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions) and security clearances (SF-86: Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions) on the Office of Personnel Management’s website.

Once you have submitted the documentation, the designated agency will proceed with the investigation, depending on the backlog and priority.

Types of Security Clearances

Positions in the federal government are classified in three ways:

1. Non-sensitive positions
2. Public trust positions
3. National security positions

Each of these positions requires some form of a background investigation, which may vary depending on the necessary level of clearance for a position. For lower levels of security clearances, background investigations typically rely entirely on automated checks of an applicant’s history. For a secret clearance in a national security position, the investigation requires agents to interview people who have lived or worked with the applicant at some point in the last seven years (or more).

There are four main types of security clearances for national security positions. These are confidential, secret, top-secret, and sensitive compartmented information.

Confidential

This type of security clearance provides access to information that may cause damage to national security if disclosed without authorization. It must be reinvestigated every 15 years.

Secret

This type of security clearance provides access to information that may cause serious damage to national security if disclosed without authorization. It must be reinvestigated every 10 years.

Top Secret

This type of security clearance provides access to information that may cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if disclosed without authorization. It must be reinvestigated every five years.

The Interim Security Clearance

If a hiring office requests an interim security clearance, an applicant may be granted an interim security clearance within a few weeks after submitting a complete security package. Final clearances usually are processed and adjudicated in less than 90 days. With an interim clearance, classified work can be performed but in a temporary capacity until a background investigation has been completed.

The government also contracts with large and small businesses to provide services and supplies used in every facet of maintaining the country’s defense. Breaking into defense contracting requires going through some red tape and can be difficult at first. Still, if you are motivated and able to obtain a security clearance, there are many opportunities in this industry.

In the past, the media has often described military contractors as "new bad guys" and expended considerable effort inventing and publicizing anything evil about contractors that could be passed off as plausible. This led politicians to demand that many contractor jobs be returned to government employees. This was called "insourcing," and once the implications were clearly explained (more expensive, less competent), calls for it to happen disappeared.

The mass media first noted the presence of so many civilian contractors in the combat zone in Iraq. There were a lot of contractors there, and by 2009 there was one civilian contractor for each member of the military in Iraq. Thus half the American force was civilians. Yet this is not the first time this has happened. In the 1990s, half the American peacekeeping force in the Balkans was civilian contractors. No one noticed it back then. In past wars, the percentage varied. During the 1991 Gulf war, contractors were only about two percent of the force. That was because the U.S. troops came to liberate Kuwait and leave. Moreover, Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf States, had bases and plenty of civilian workers they allowed U.S. forces to use for the operation. The American troops lived "in the field" as they would in a conventional war while local civilians took care of many support tasks.

One of the top and most controversial contractors, KBR, Inc., has been able to land over $50 billion in government contracts in the last decade.

The Houston-based energy-focused engineering and construction firm KBR, Inc. was spun off from its parent, oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. in 2007. Even though the military has largely pulled out of Iraq, private contractors remain on the ground and continue to reap U.S. government contracts. For example, the U.S. State Department has paid $3 billion to private guards for the government’s sprawling embassy in Baghdad.

BRIEF HISTORY

In the Vietnam War, where U.S. troops were there for a long time, contractors were 16 percent of the force. In the Korean War, civilians were 28 percent of the force. During World War II it was 12 percent; it was 4 percent in World War I, during the U.S. Civil War it was 17 percent, during the Mexican-American War it was 15 percent, and during the Revolutionary War, it was 18 percent. It was not just the U.S. using contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan many other nations worldwide have been doing the same thing. It's particularly popular in Europe, but even Russia and China are picking up on this. And this has been going on everywhere for a long time.

This current trend is a return to the past when many of the "non-combat" troops were civilians. Another major change in modern times is the shrinking proportion of troops who fight. A century ago, most armies comprised over 80 percent fighters and the rest "camp followers (support troops) in uniform." Today the ratio is reversed, and therein resides a major problem. Way back in the day, the support troops were called "camp followers," and they took care of supply, support, medical care, maintenance, and "entertainment" (that's where the term "camp follower" got a bad name). Most of these people were men, and some were armed, mainly for defending the camp if the combat troops got beat real bad and needed somewhere to retreat to. The military is using a lot more civilians now. In an age when most troops are highly paid volunteers, hiring additional civilians on short-term contracts is cheaper than recruiting and training more troops.

The U.S. military has been hiring contractors more and more since the 1960s but does not give a lot of publicity to the program. This was mainly because some contractors, especially those in medical jobs, get paid far more than someone in uniform doing the same job. But most civilians, hired to do what was previously done by soldiers, are making as much, or less, than the troops (including benefits).