Not when it comes to security clearances. There are certainly some convictions that will disqualify a person from even applying, but also plenty where you could have a misdemeanor conviction in your past and still get a security clearance if it doesn’t make you blackmailable.
But they check for things like alcohol abuse, drug habits, sexual behavior, debt, gang affiliations, and any other dark secrets that could make you susceptible to bribery or blackmail. Cause if you have a security clearance and then fall for a foreign honeypot, it’s bad news.
Unless you’re a billionaire, member of congress, or otherwise born into the political elite, of course. Then they get you with the Israeli honeypot just for good measure, but they’ll still give you a security clearance in that case because then they get to control you.
That’s why it was such a big deal when trump forced clearances through for all his cabinet picks without proper investigations. Because if proper investigations were actually done, none of them would have qualified…
they check for things like alcohol abuse, drug habits, sexual behavior, debt, gang affiliations, and any other dark secrets that could make you susceptible to bribery or blackmail
Yes. When I was interviewed by the FBI, because a friend of mine was seeking a clearance, this kind of thing was all they wanted to talk about. That was a couple decades ago, though.
Background checks are more to find actual wrongdoing like criminal activity.
It’s more a problem of current American society that this is considered blackmail material at all.
Not when it comes to security clearances. There are certainly some convictions that will disqualify a person from even applying, but also plenty where you could have a misdemeanor conviction in your past and still get a security clearance if it doesn’t make you blackmailable.
But they check for things like alcohol abuse, drug habits, sexual behavior, debt, gang affiliations, and any other dark secrets that could make you susceptible to bribery or blackmail. Cause if you have a security clearance and then fall for a foreign honeypot, it’s bad news.
Unless you’re a billionaire, member of congress, or otherwise born into the political elite, of course. Then they get you with the Israeli honeypot just for good measure, but they’ll still give you a security clearance in that case because then they get to control you.
That’s why it was such a big deal when trump forced clearances through for all his cabinet picks without proper investigations. Because if proper investigations were actually done, none of them would have qualified…
Yes. When I was interviewed by the FBI, because a friend of mine was seeking a clearance, this kind of thing was all they wanted to talk about. That was a couple decades ago, though.