Security Clearance - How do I explain that I lived in a "problem" country while working remotely?

Question

I'm a US citizen, and while my home address is in the US, I took advantage of my fully-remote job to travel to countries for extended periods, including a country that US considers an adversary (I was neither born nor have any family ties there). I didn't tell anyone at work. I didn't think it was necessary to do so, I thought it might raise some eyebrows, and because I generally keep my private life out of work anyways. I just did my work like normal, and whenever my location/timezone came up, I'd mention my official US address.

Fast forward to the present: I am back in the US with a different company and am about to start a new project that's been contracted by the government. It's not related to defense, aerospace, nuclear energy, etc. However, I'm still required to undergo a security clearance.

My criminal record and credit score are spotless. However, I'm concerned that my traveling to "undesirable" countries for long periods will cause problems. I've heard that a security clearance requires references from friends, family, and co-workers. So I'm also concerned that my references (particularly my former co-workers) will say I lived in the US the whole time since I never talked to them about it and never met them in-person. What should I say/do going forward?

There is likely some evidence that I was a resident of the other country: a lease (renting apartment), maybe a visa (but it was a tourist visa), credit card charges, perhaps.

The security clearance required is public trust.

Answer 1

Background checks always start with statements from you. They will give you an opportunity to tell them where you lived, who you worked for, who your friends and relatives are, what trouble you have got into in the past.

When they get you to give a statement you should tell them about all the places you have lived and visited, and mention that not everybody you know was aware that you made these visits. If somebody else they talk to doesn't mention those visits that will be a reasonable explanation.

It is of course true that living for a period of time in an "undesirable country" will potentially cause you problems with a security clearance. The investigators will want to know details of why you chose to live in that country and what you did there. It will also not be helpful that you didn't tell your co-workers (or anyone in your company) where you were living. Investigators will want to know why you were keeping it secret, and "I want to keep my private life private" may not cut it. They may suspect you had other motives. However there is not much you can do about the situation now.

The only thing you could do to make the situation worse would be to try to cover it up now. Doing that would not only be more likely to cause you to fail the security check, but might leave you open to criminal charges, even if you passed the check now and the facts were discovered later. Be completely up front with the investigators, answering their questions fully. Be completely cooperative. If there was somebody at your work who knew your location then give that person's name to investigators as a reference. Remember that in a security check there is no presumption of innocence, or right to remain silent. Investigators do not need to prove you did something wrong. You can be failed if it even looks like you are not being cooperative, or if they think you might be a risk.

Answer 2

Buckle up, it might get rough.

But it also might not. It's really hard to predict.

Assuming you actually do mean "security clearance" not "something kinda like a security clearance", this is still probably okay. If you don't have a specific need on the program you're working, you're probably going for just secret-eligible. There isn't a lot of difference between eligibility and an actual clearance; it's basically just whether you have a role with a need-to-know. Even with an active clearance, you will not necessarily spend much (or any) time working with secret material.

The first step is going to be filling out an SF-86. Your FSO will tell you how. That will ask you everywhere you have lived for the past seven years and will want a point of contact who knew that you were living at each place. You're looking for something like a friend who visited frequently or a neighbor. It will also ask for three people who know you very well, and who have between them been in close contact with you for the past seven(?) years. It will also ask a whole lot of other questions. The most critical thing is to answer honestly. Seriously. Don't lie or be evasive. That is extra important if you have something hinky, which you do.

If that all goes smoothly, you can get an interim clearance/eligibility, which makes it really likely that this will go smoothly. Your company might send you dickish notes reminding you that your employment is conditioned on getting a final determination, but as long as you were honest you're almost certainly fine.

Usually, for boring people, that whole process will go smoothly and without necessarily even interviewing anyone (clearances above secret start getting interviews real fast). Everyone you listed will get a letter asking them to confirm whatever you said, but if your story checks out, the investigating agency might decide that your case is fairly open-and-shut, even with a bit of exciting travel.

More likely, they might decide that you're not boring enough, and send someone out to interview you and/or your friends. Again, the most important thing is to be honest. Lying or failing to disclose stuff will torpedo you faster and harder than anything.

People can have some pretty wild stuff happen and still maintain clearances. I worked with one Marine who re-upped a TS clearance while going through the tail end of a messy divorce, sleeping around constantly, and suffering from some crazy PTSD. His interviews were grueling. I would not have said his odds were good, but he was committed to disclosing everything and that ultimately worked out. I am informed by many people that they disclosed past drug use and the investigators did not care at all (hiding drug use is very, very bad; drug use while cleared is bad for your clearance; past drug use is nothing).

So, painful as it may be, your path to success is simple: disclose everything; tell the investigators everything. It'll probably be fine if what you described is the real situation.

Answer 3

For the purposes of this answer I am assuming a Public Trust, which is one of the easiest types of clearances to get. So if a person cannot meet this level it is safe to assume they will not meet other types of US clearances.

Here are the first two bullet points from the Suitability Criteria for a Public Trust:

• Misconduct or negligence in employment
• Criminal or dishonest conduct

Different countries have different rules on what can be done on different types of visas and some countries even have special work visas for people who are only working remotely. So by not informing your employer that you would be working while on a tourist visa overseas for extended periods of time is a form of negligence in employment and dishonest conduct.

Employers need to know where you will be conducting your work so that they can comply with the labor laws of that location. Even working in another state for extended periods of time can cause legal issues for a company (and this is why some companies will not let you work remotely from certain states). When dealing with foreign countries, things get even more complex for companies. For example US export control laws can kick in and thus cause certain forms of remote work in that country to be criminal.

As such when the background check discovers the foreign travel using the incorrect type of visas would be enough grounds for the clearance to be denied. With that said I have seen inconsistency with people getting public trusts. Some people will get denied while other get approved despite both having done similar things.

What should I say/do going forward?

If you have not already submitted the paperwork then do not submit it. That is a can of worms you do not want opened. Wait seven years, behave yourself with foreign travel in that use the correct type of visa. Most forms of clearances only care about the last seven years (some go back ten years). Then apply for the public trust. Clearances are typically very forgiving about things done a long time ago if you are honest about it and it is clear that you no longer do that thing.

If you have already submitted then be honest once the questions start coming in, and do not try to deflect responsibility for it. Expect and plan that you will not get the clearance. Also be on your best behavior since if they discover that your work violated some random obscure export control law being nice goes a long way in them deciding not to press charges against you.

Answer 4

It does not look good. I am familiar with the DOE security clearance process. Before requesting a clearance, for another job I had travelled extensively to China, Russia and India. As long as I said that all the trips were for work, and my boss backed me up, everything was fine.

I know someone who had a clearance, went to China to "find himself" and came back. He was denied a clearance.

The only thing you can do is be totally honest, as said before.

Answer 5

What your coworkers knew or didn't know should be immaterial unless you actually told them "I'm in the USA and have never travelled, lived, or worked in any foreign country". What they believe should be irrelevant. My coworkers might believe I have blonde hair and blue eyes, but unless I've told them that or I've told them something different then it shouldn't matter to anyone what my coworkers believe to be true.

As for your travel to these "undesirable" locations is concerned, be honest. If that precludes you from the job, then so be it. Worrying about it isn't going to change anything, and lying about it would be the wrong course of action.

Answer 6

This isn't overly complicated.

You list the job, you indicate the address of the business, you note that it included remote work.

You then underneath that job, indicate the locations and dates that you worked.

e.g:

ACME Co. 123 Street. Town, State, USA

2017-08-01 to 2022-08-03

Work locations:

2017-08-01 to 2019-04-01: Whatever your home address is, USA

2019-04-05 to 2019-08-05: 123 Street, Crappy Country

2019-08-05 to 2021-09-15: Whatever your home address is, USA

2021-09-15 to 2022-02-24: 456 Road, Some Other Crappy Country

And then make sure this is consistent with the "Places I've Travelled to" section.

In terms of tourist visas etc. that's honestly a distraction.

If they were particularly nosy, they may ask about specific visas that were used. You can then decide if you want to provide that information.

In the future, you should let the HR department know when your address changes. Even if your boss doesn't need to know, at least there is a paper trail of you informing your company.

Answer 7

Security clearance will require a travel history. It does not matter where your residence was. What matters is where you were on any given date for x years. under scrutiny this also includes the travel history of your co-habitants and your immediate family. Any contact with officials of any kind.

It does not matter which country, it is not for you to be making the call on the outcome. But they may need details of the landlord.

You will have to declare this absolutely. it is not something that can be omitted or skimmed over.

You do know they will want your account details for here, right?

In your favour is keeping things tight and not spilling your guts on Facebook.

Answer 8

Do not lie. So you will need to disclose the presence in the unfriendly country.

However my understanding is you were not doing work for the unfriendly country in any way whatsoever? I.E. you weren't helping them fix F-14 Tomcats or design centrifuges? Then you should also make that clear - as that is much more important to them. Obviously their first assumption is that you chose that country to do your remote work because your remote work entailed work in that country. You'll need to show that it did not.

Generally, the question of a remote worker from country X doing work for a country X company for country X clients and being paid in country X pesos into a country X bank, yet their boots are on the ground in country Y... is treated differently in different countries. Some country Y's are happy to allow it on tourist visas and basically ignore the income and other implications. Others are not, and want the worker treated as a domestic worker and have the correct visa for that. The USA's policy is irrelevant here, what matters is the policy of the foreign countries you were in.

Were you deceptive by not telling your employer that your boots were on the ground in country Y while doing work for them? That depends on how country Y treats that situation in relation to the employer. Some countries want the employer to pay employment tax, healthcare, register there, etc. etc. Other countries may be sanguine to or even encourage remote/vagabond workers who want to work by day and tourist by night/weekend. If country Y imposes no requirements on the remote worker, then I think you're in the clear.