# A question about Federal Employment **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2008, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-federal-employment/440937 "2008-03-11T06:30:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-federal-employment/440937/21 "2008-03-11T20:00:28Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Mapp] … are you likely to work to overthrow the gov’t. [/QUOTE] IIRC the question was phrased along the lines of _“Do you favor the overthrow of the US government through violence or subversion?”_ I astutely gathered they were not asking applicants to express a preference… ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-federal-employment/440937/22 "2008-03-11T20:09:16Z")
Oh, one other thing. It’s a good idea to ask the people you intend to list and find out if it’s okay before you list them. It gives them a heads-up so they won’t be too surprised when the FBI phones them one evening. True, Dinsdale–it isn’t a multiple-choice question. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-federal-employment/440937/23 "2008-03-12T01:57:15Z")
It’s all post 9/11 stuff. I’ve worked for the federal government for over 30 years and never had to fill out any security clearance type forms, but a couple of years ago when my ID badge needed to be renewed, they made me fill out a basic security clearance and even took my fingerprints (again!)–all of it done online. They had trouble getting the fingerprints to “take” too but that was apparently more of a software problem of them having old technology. For a non-critical, non-sensitive position, I only had to go back 10 years I think. My references were all people that I work with and believe it or not, they did contact each of them and talked to them. But it all worked out. And yes, they were unbelievably back-logged for quite a while, although I believe the backlog is not as bad or long as it was then. I think it was a 6-8 months wait from the time I started that ball rolling before I was finally able to get my new ID badge. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-federal-employment/440937/24 "2008-03-12T14:24:27Z")
[QUOTE=tarragon918] It’s all post 9/11 stuff. [/QUOTE] Not so. The agency named in the OP required fingerprinting and security clearance in '86 - at least for some positions. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-federal-employment/440937/25 "2008-03-12T17:35:07Z")
This thread is better suited for [**In My Humble Opinion**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=12). I’ll move it for you. **Cajun Man** for the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-federal-employment/440937/26 "2008-03-12T17:47:41Z")
A number of years ago, **DrMatrix** was hired as a contract employee for US Customs. They did an intense ten year background check, after he’d been working for them a month. Just routine back then. They even sent agents to South Louisiana to interview his parents and mine. Don’t know what the present procedure is. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-federal-employment/440937/27 "2008-03-12T19:55:30Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] Not so. The agency named in the OP required fingerprinting and security clearance in '86 - at least for some positions. [/QUOTE] It has changed for me. Prior to 9/11, I had an ID badge I kept in a desk drawer, used only when I had to go to the Parklawn Building or some other federal office downtown that had security gates. We didn’t. Since then, I have to wear the badge around the building where I work, and we have gates and x-ray machines now. Last year, for the first time, I was fingerprinted and had to undergo a security check for a job I’ve had 10+ years (I think that if I were a risk, I would have had plenty of time to unfold my insidious plans long before this.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-federal-employment/440937.md?page=1)