Posted on Aug 29, 2018
Background Check Change Could Put Troops' Clearances at Risk
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This article fells sorry for those with low credit scores. I see it differently. 1. You should keep your stuff squared away. 2. If you have a clearance, you are putting yourself and national security information at risk. This is how espionage happens, our enemies look for our weakness to exploit.
Background Check Change Could Put Troops' Clearances at Risk
Posted from military.com
Intelligence
Espionage
Spying
China
Russia
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 9
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I agree...there are more things you have to report when it happens not just financial data. However, all of these would have been reported at the 5 and 10 year marks anyway...the govt is just capturing them as they happen versus waiting on many years to pass before making an adjudication.
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SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
Good thing is the new program of continuous evaluation and FIN records can be checked anytime. My wife was a bank manage and they did a credit check every month on her. The gov can protect classified better.
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I guess the monitoring is the new thing - because over due bills and taking no effort to pay them has always been a denial of a clearance. The shift from OPM to DOD is the only real change I see.
When I worked in S2, I told people the biggest things that will get you denied is debt that you aren't trying to pay and drug use. When people selected "yes" if they had over 90 days (I think that's it) debt I would say "Do you have a plan in place to show you are making payments to resolve this debt?" If they could, we printed it out and attached it to the packet and they got an interim and got a clearance. It's the people who have debt and have no plan they can show they are paying it off.
There's a reason they don't want people with debt to have a clearance - it's easier for someone to get blackmailed or paid off if they have debt. That's what FIS or others are going to target - someone who has extreme debt. So they avoid that by not giving people with debt and not paying a clearance.
NCOs should know if their troops are having issues but if not, find out. Tell them "Hey this might impact your clearance" or "your ability to get one" if you don't resolve it.
When I worked in S2, I told people the biggest things that will get you denied is debt that you aren't trying to pay and drug use. When people selected "yes" if they had over 90 days (I think that's it) debt I would say "Do you have a plan in place to show you are making payments to resolve this debt?" If they could, we printed it out and attached it to the packet and they got an interim and got a clearance. It's the people who have debt and have no plan they can show they are paying it off.
There's a reason they don't want people with debt to have a clearance - it's easier for someone to get blackmailed or paid off if they have debt. That's what FIS or others are going to target - someone who has extreme debt. So they avoid that by not giving people with debt and not paying a clearance.
NCOs should know if their troops are having issues but if not, find out. Tell them "Hey this might impact your clearance" or "your ability to get one" if you don't resolve it.
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SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
You are correct that debt is a target for FISS to use against our people. Debt is the flag...it does not matter if it is big or little debt. It is the thought of the in debt soldier who sees and offer of $10,000 over their debt is a good price to commit espionage. If so, you go to jail.
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SFC Kelly Fuerhoff
Unpaid debt is the flag. If you show you are paying it off and have a plan they aren't as leery about that.
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SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
I agree the adjudicators are not as leery. HOIS hostile intel services are leery and like to exploit it. Russians believed everyone could be bought in the USA....just some were cheaper.
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