Posted on Feb 2, 2016
TSgt Joshua Copeland
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I am asking simply because I was reviewing some documents and dozens of folks identified as AD, Res and Guard with ranks up to E7 indicated they did not have a clearance. On the AF side, we won't even give you access to NIPR without at least a secret (mil) or favorable (Civ).
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SGM Erik Marquez
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"It's MOS specific really. E7 and above need at least a secret clearance"
That mostly, but lets say it is Job/ Task related and also by grade.
Many Army folks work outside their school trained MOS every day. Some of those are in other MOS slotted lines that just don't have a fill, and the Army has many jobs that are additional duty's or worse required full time positions for which the Army has never created an authorization for.
Here is an example.. at the Company level, each company in the US Army has at least one "Training room NCO" Usually in the pay grade of E4~E5 That person should have a Secret clearance to do the job correctly, and that job is not an authorized line on the MTOE, yet filled in every unit I have ever seen, because it's needed.
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COL Strategic Plans Chief
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TSgt Joshua Copeland, there are things in peoples' pasts that will disqualify them from a Secret clearance but not disqualify them from service. No sense denying entry based on an additional requirement. Now...they should be made aware at the recruiting station that at some point they will have to pass a background check by the agency. That way they aren't surprised later in life when they decide they want to make a career out of it.
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TSgt Joshua Copeland
TSgt Joshua Copeland
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I would disagree, in the age of an all volunteer for, especially during drawdowns, why would we want to invest time and money on someone we know we can't retain long term?
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CPL(P) Intelligence Analyst
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In my experience working personnel security, individuals who had derog information and were previously denied a clearance but retained in the service were reinvestigated if they were promoted to a rank that required a clearance. The reinvestigation typically came up good and the clearance was granted. At my last unit, we had a SSG who had been denied a clearance at one point because of debt, but when he became a battle NCO (several years later) we put in for a reinvestigation and he was granted a clearance. Unless you've had a clearance revoked, behaving yourself will usually clear the way for a Secret.
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PVT (Non-Rated)
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I got a felony when I was 17 but case was sealed and expunged after I did my community service and paid restitution, I am 20 now and I have already been through meps and I have signed my contract as 25N and I ship out to basic in June , will the fbi investigator find out about my juvenile record or am I good ? I didn’t tell them at meps cause the recruiter and station commander told me to lie about it , but I want to hear from someone else
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
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The Army has a lot of MOSs where you just don't touch any classified information nor any gear that requires a clearance to operate. The most common secret gear the Army uses routinely are the hop sets for radios and to a lesser extent EW gear.
It varies a lot by MOS, though. In mine (Civil Affairs), everyone needs a Secret clearance, as most of our reports and information we use to build assessments and analysis is at least Secret. Once we get to E-7 and all officers need a TS/SCI.
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PVT (Non-Rated)
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I got a felony when I was 17 but case was sealed and expunged after I did my community service and paid restitution, I am 20 now and I have already been through meps and I have signed my contract as 25N and I ship out to basic in June , will the fbi investigator find out about my juvenile record or am I good ? I didn’t tell them at meps cause the recruiter and station commander told me to lie about it , but I want to hear from someone else
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
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PVT (Join to see) - If you lied to the investigator or on your form, you are in trouble. You can bet that they will find out, too.
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PVT (Non-Rated)
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Why is it that 80% say no I won’t be caught and 20% say I will smh,damn bro I really wanted to be in the army as 25N but why do they have to base my childhood off of me being a good person1SG (Join to see)
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
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PVT (Join to see) the lie of omission is the bigger problem, not what you actually did as a minor... excepting serious offenses, of course.
My advice is to come clean, because if/ when you are caught, a fraudulent enlistment will be very painful for you.

By the way, you just posted what you did on the internet.
Just saying.
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CWO4 Branch Head
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very common. Non-citizens cannot have a clearance. we allow them on NIPR, but they cannot access any of our systems. In my case it's pay systems.
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TSgt Ncoic, Combat Training Detachment
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Eeeeh, yes and no. I'm intel, and I have worked with a few non-citizens. Not a lot, but enough. It is true they cannot have a TS clearance, but many can get what's called an LAA; Limited Access Authorization, which is equivalent to a Secret, but a lot more restrictive in its requirements for authorization. They can't do ops, but they've handled our records, clearance investigations, etc.
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How common is it for a someone in the Marines and Army to not have at least a secret clearance?
MSG Brad Sand
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I would tell you, but that is a breach of security. Why are you asking?
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A1C Application Developer
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Is NIPR military-wide? Or just Air Force? As someone currently accessing RP I SHOULD know but I don't.
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TSgt Jack Manigold
TSgt Jack Manigold
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NIPR is military wide.
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CPL(P) Intelligence Analyst
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NIPR is DOD-wide, if not government-wide. So are SIPR and JWICS.
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PVT (Non-Rated)
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I got a felony when I was 17 but case was sealed and expunged after I did my community service and paid restitution, I am 20 now and I have already been through meps and I have signed my contract as 25N and I ship out to basic in June , will the fbi investigator find out about my juvenile record or am I good ? I didn’t tell them at meps cause the recruiter and station commander told me to lie about it , but I want to hear from someone else
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GySgt John Joseph
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It is very common to not have a clearance level. It depended upon your MOS and if it was required
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MCPO Roger Collins
MCPO Roger Collins
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As with ALL branches of the military. Oh, and the Coast Guard. :)
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GySgt Joe Strong
GySgt Joe Strong
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Absolutely not common to have a TS (or even any) clearance in the Corps unless you worked in a specific field and/or did specific jobs in specific units. Although in some fields it was important to be cleared for and be eligible to have one (in case they assigned you to a position where you needed it), or they could and would show you the door. ('80's - '00's)

Comm Troops can generally be forgiven for not seeing this because the other Comm troops they see every day generally have one (of some level) and not having one makes you the oddball. "What? Everyone in my MOS has had a Clearance since they were an E-2 or 3"
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LTC Paul Labrador
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For junior enlisted, very common.
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SGT(P) Unit Supply Specialist
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Edited >1 y ago
TSgt Joshua Copeland in my Unit, everybody needs a clearance, from the Supply guy, me, to the BC and everyone in between. If for any reason you get your clearance revoked, that would mean a PCS, if not chapter out. And I mentioned the chapter just because to get your clearance revoked, you gotta do something really dumb.
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CPL(P) Intelligence Analyst
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There's also a difference between suspension and revocation. Typically if something comes up that's derog, it results in a clearance suspension. Revoking is much rarer and I think it's permanent.
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SGT(P) Unit Supply Specialist
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CPL(P) (Join to see) all I've seen is revoke, the only suspension I've seen was a guy that they said he had non reported foreign contact, they did an investigation, they were wrong and he kept it. Everyone else, revoked and PCS or ETS.
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CPL(P) Intelligence Analyst
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Hmm. We suspended clearances all the time for stuff like DUIs - basically anything derog, a suspension memo would be filed. I only saw one revocation, and I don't know what it was for.

We also saw clearances denied a lot, mostly for pax whose jobs didn't require them but applied anyways, or for pax who were promoted and put in for one but were denied for financial reasons.
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SGT(P) Unit Supply Specialist
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CPL(P) (Join to see) I had to do a rebuttal for mine because of student loans, it actually helped me a lot to improve my credit score and take charge of my finances.

The revokes I've seen, one admitted drug use while on service in a poly, the other failed a UA, that even lost the secret. And the other one had lots of reports of beating his wife, that last one got chaptered out.
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SSgt Mark Lines
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If memory serves , while I was on active duty, all E-6's and above had to be cleared for a at least a Secret clearance. You still had to have "Need to Know" for access to said material.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
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MCPO Roger Collins - Check (no arguments). p11 references the Officer part I mentioned above. The SNCO part is generally covered under the "MOS or Billet" (center section). This is the HQMC read in document, however almost every command has one that is similar. I was with I MEF, 1MARDIV, Training COMMAND, EDCOM, & TECOM (Last 3 were "realignments" but had to do readin/outs), and did read ins at each.

I'm sure we had E6+ without clearances running around, however I never met one that wasn't a Non-US Citizen.

I think this is a product of USMC organization vs Navy vs USAF. "Chance of exposure" is just different, and each service has adjusted Policy to account for it.
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TSgt Joshua Copeland
TSgt Joshua Copeland
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS, can you even make E6 in the Marines in an initial enlistment? I thought every service barred reenlistment of non-citizens?
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
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TSgt Joshua Copeland - Never personally seen it, however we do have 6 year enlistments (I was a 5 year), and stop loss which makes it "possible." I was in zone for SSgt in my 7th year (had I come in at the beginning of the year instead of the end, it would have shifted me to year 6), and I spent A LOT of time as a Cpl. It's "technically" possible, but unlikely. I think "goal progression" is around year 8-10.

The old rules were that you had to serve at least 3 years in the military before you could even apply. I want to say I remember someone getting sworn in (citizenship) just after reenlisting but this was 15~ years ago. However the rules have changed quite a bit.

https://www.uscis.gov/news/fact-sheets/naturalization-through-military-service-fact-sheet
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TSgt Joshua Copeland
TSgt Joshua Copeland
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS, it was the 3 year rule when I came in as well, Big Blue only allows for 4 or 6 year enlistments for the most part. There were some rare exceptions during the early surge for 2 years for about 29 AFSCs, and folks who were scholarship cadets at USAFA/ROTC but did not qualify for commissioning (GPA and failure to graduate on time being the most common reasons).
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Sgt Nick Marshall
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Going back in time it was unusual to have a secret clearance, I only had one being a radio operator. Because my parents are English I was told I could go no higher.
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LCpl Jim Pleace
LCpl Jim Pleace
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Really? I assume you are a citizen by birth with British parents. They said your clearance couldn't go any higher because of their citizenship? I'm Canadian with Canadian and British parents so that makes me think it would have stopped me from going crypto like they wanted me to
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CPL(P) Intelligence Analyst
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Someone lied to you - I work with a Canadian-American with a TS.
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Sgt Nick Marshall
Sgt Nick Marshall
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This was 30 years ago, maybe things have changed.
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Sgt Field Radio Operator
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Security clearances are issued on a need basis.
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