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…
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.
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.
Not so. The agency named in the OP required fingerprinting and security clearance in '86 - at least for some positions.
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.
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.)