Security Executive Blog

Facility Security Clearances A defense contractor is a business entity that has registered to contract with the US Government and has registered with the Central Contractor Registration. A Cleared Defense Contractor (CDC) is the designation of a U.S. Government Contractor facility that has been granted a Facility Clearance, authorizing them to perform on classified contracts. An uncleared defense contractor may bid on a classified contract without possessing an FCL. However, they must be cleared before getting access to the classified contract. Many defense contractors may find it difficult to find and compete for classified contracts. They may have a unique skill that is hard to identify contracts requiring those skills. But this should not be a showstopper as uncleared defense contractor may partner with or team with an existing CDC for sponsorship. For example, suppose a major defense contractor is performing on a classified contract for engineering support. Their core compe...

Can social media posts impact your security clearance? It’s great to have family reunions or go out with friends and take pictures of events and the good times. We all want our friends to know how well we are doing and maybe we want to make some co-workers jealous while on vacation. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter make it possible to post your fun immediately. Social media is a great invention and used for good, can be a rather fun way to keep up with others and allow them to keep up with you. However, such opportunities also provide epic fail situations where the poster gets in trouble at home and at work. You may have read where school students have been suspended, military personnel have been punished and employees fired for events captured on social media. Some irresponsible postings have had reputation ruining consequences based upon perception as in the case of DeSean Jackson missing practice while posting vacation photos. Even though he had probably preplanned the event, foo...

One thing an FSO just can't control is how long it takes the US Government to completely investigate, adjudicate and award a security clearance. These investigations rely on trained persons to research a persons background and another set of trained persons to make a decision on the findings. These professionals are charged with determining whether or not a person can be relied on to protect classified information from unauthorized disclosure. Returning or seeking clarification on submitted information is costly. As an  FSO, you can control one critical part of the process. Ensure the applicant fills out the SF86 forms accurately and completely. Any mistakes, omissions or embellishments can cause serious time delays. You can help the applicant understand the content and explain how to complete required forms. Here is great tool to help; the top 6 reasons security clearance decisions are delayed: 1.  Missing or illegible fingerprint cards. The cards must be provided to th...