Ask A Spook! Cryptologic Questions

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by Saturnal

How seriously does the Navy take foreign contacts in regards to a TS clearance? I had a prior relationship with a Chinese national and (foolishly I guess) tried to update my foreign contact information. They had me cut contact (something I was opposed to) and write a statement. The nature of the relationship was close friendship/language exchange. Will it disqualify me? I'm afraid of shipping only to find out I'm ineligible for TS and have to do some undesirable job.

Also, what is CTN A-school like? Should I bother getting IT certifications like A+ or Network+? Thank you.

Foreign Contacts are a BIG deal. It's not an outright disqualifier though, unless you try to hide it and it gets discovered (they will find it eventually, trust me). If you're planning on going into the Intel/Crypto world, continuing contact with someone in China is going to be an issue. Get everything well documented and let DONCAF make the call.

As far as CTN school, don't bother going to get those certs yourself. All those CompTIA certs are incredibly low level and not worth your time. If you want to learn the material, go for it, but if it were me I would recommend studying for the CCNA over any of the CompTIA certs.

/r
CTT1