# It seems I've failed to get "Law Enforcement" clearance. Any guesses why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-ive-failed-to-get-law-enforcement-clearance-any-guesses-why/499570 "2009-06-12T17:28:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-ive-failed-to-get-law-enforcement-clearance-any-guesses-why/499570/21 "2009-06-13T04:37:52Z")
I was once hired for a job, told that I’d be called to be told what my starting day would be. Waited a week, called in to find out what was happening, and they told me that the person who had hired me had been informed the next day that actually they were doing layoffs and there would be no new hires. Of course, she should have called me to let me know this, but ah well. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-ive-failed-to-get-law-enforcement-clearance-any-guesses-why/499570/22 "2009-06-13T18:35:26Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Markxxx, please dont think I am doubting you, (I dont know anything about the procedure for hiring an FBI agent) but “EVERY single household in a 6 block radius”??? The man-hours and logistics on that must have been staggering… I agree; that must be an exaggeration on Markxxx’s part. I had a top secret (Q-clearance) when I worked at a DOE nuclear weapons plant. The investigator only talked to one or two neighbors at each place I lived. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-ive-failed-to-get-law-enforcement-clearance-any-guesses-why/499570/23 "2009-06-13T19:32:25Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > A few months ago, I attempted to join an organization that requires its members to have “Law Enforcement” clearance. I had to submit to an FBI background check. As I understand it, on the scale of No Clearance to Super-Duper Clearance, this is one step up from No Clearance. > > … But I’m curious about what the problem was. I guess I’ll never know, and there’s not a GQ answer for this, but let’s engage in some idle speculation anyway. Okay, obviously things are done very different in the US than in Germany, but if you ask the federal police (that’s what the FBI is officially, right?) for a security check for a job, and you think you failed it, do you not have a right to ask them directly what’s negative against you in their files? I know that the laws for privacy and protection of data are far more stricter in Europe than in the US where people have a different attitude towards it. I also realize that if the FBI suspects you of being a terrorist or similar and is therefore secretly investigating towards you, they won’t tell you “Sure, we are trying to get a court order to wiretap your phone, and we are looking at your bank transactions and tracking the money”. They also won’t tell you what the agents have written down in their private, unofficial files/ notebooks. But surely, even in the US, you have a right to know what’s officially in the files against you? For cases that can be cleared up because of a mix-up of names or similar? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-ive-failed-to-get-law-enforcement-clearance-any-guesses-why/499570/24 "2009-06-13T21:16:27Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > But surely, even in the US, you have a right to know what’s officially in the files against you? For cases that can be cleared up because of a mix-up of names or similar? Probably so. I just don’t regard this as a particularly big deal. It would be interesting and informative to be in the group, but I don’t want to expend a great deal of energy trying to figure out what they have in their files preventing me from joining (if that is the case). The odds of me ever really _needing_ a security clearance are pretty small. I’d rather chat idly among a bunch of strangers on the internet than go through the effort of the Freedom Of Information Act request. Besides, based on what others have said, it is still quite possble that they just haven’t gotten around to me. If I get a definite indication that I didn’t get the clearance, I might really try to find out why. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-seems-ive-failed-to-get-law-enforcement-clearance-any-guesses-why/499570.md?page=1)