Security Clearance Guide

This page will be a practical guide to the security clearance lifecycle — from understanding what each tier actually grants access to, through preparing an accurate SF-86, maintaining the clearance after separation, surviving a break in service without losing eligibility, and navigating self-reporting requirements. It will also cover the commercial cleared-contractor industry for veterans entering that market.

Topics to cover

Clearance tiers — Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret/SCI: what each covers, who grants them, typical investigation timelines in the current environment
SF-86 preparation tips — the most common applicant mistakes (omissions, date gaps, foreign contacts), how to handle foreign travel, how to disclose financial issues without tanking your adjudication
Continuous Vetting (CV) vs Periodic Reinvestigation — how the shift to continuous monitoring changes the old 5-year/10-year cycle, what triggers a review
Maintaining clearance after separation — how long a clearance stays “current” in JPAS/DISS without a sponsoring employer (typically 24 months), what to do in that window
Breaks in service impact — when reinvestigation is required vs when the existing investigation is sufficient, how DoD and IC differ on this
Self-reporting requirements — what must be reported (foreign contacts, foreign travel, financial changes, legal issues), how to report, consequences of not reporting vs reporting proactively
Adjudicative guidelines — the 13 guidelines (financial, foreign influence, drug use, etc.), how each is evaluated, mitigation factors that matter
Commercial clearance industry — cleared job boards, how to find a clearance sponsor, how to negotiate sponsorship, realistic timelines for getting back into access