Ask A Spook! Cryptologic Questions

[Jack]

General question re: the SSBI, how deep do they go? Only reason I ask is I had a few speeding tickets in my younger years that my recruiter told me weren't on my record anymore and thus she didn't put it on my SF-86 (although I have an unnerving feeling this is a mistake). Any advice on the subject? I take my DLAB on the 18th and I'm nervous that it will all be a waste of time

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by Jack

General question re: the SSBI, how deep do they go? Only reason I ask is I had a few speeding tickets in my younger years that my recruiter told me weren't on my record anymore and thus she didn't put it on my SF-86 (although I have an unnerving feeling this is a mistake). Any advice on the subject? I take my DLAB on the 18th and I'm nervous that it will all be a waste of time

An SSBI goes back 10 years.

That being said, if they DO find something that they don't like then your investigator will talk to you about it and you can explain what's up. Just be straight forward and honest and you should be fine. Speeding tickets (as long as we're not talking habitual or felony level) shouldn't be a huge issue.

Things that would really trip up an investigation would be things like ties to foreign countries/nationals, excessive unexplained debt (ie, not a car loan or student debt), drug or alcohol issues, that kind of thing.

tl;dr
Don't sweat it, you're fine.

/r
CTT1

[Jack]

Foreign nations might trip me up. I have a few friends from Israel who serve in intelligence and special units, but I put all of them down on my SSBI. As for my loans, my credit is all good so I'm not worried

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by Jack

Foreign nations might trip me up. I have a few friends from Israel who serve in intelligence and special units, but I put all of them down on my SSBI. As for my loans, my credit is all good so I'm not worried

Oh yea, I would say that's important!

Your best bet is to be 100% open with that stuff. If they even have an idea you might be lying and it's concerning ties to something like Israeli intelligence? They aren't going to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Be 100% forthcoming and honest. That's my best advice. If you hide it they will find it, and that'll be the end of the road. So just don't haha That's not a disqualifying factor in itself, but you will need to be very clear about it if they have questions.

/r
CTT1

[Barbazu]

How much can a spook tell their wife about what they do? Can I just say, "I work with computers (CTN)" or can I tell her more?

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by Barbazu

How much can a spook tell their wife about what they do? Can I just say, "I work with computers (CTN)" or can I tell her more?

That's about it really. You can't discuss anything about what you're working on, what the missions are, what capabilities your shop does or doesn't have, who works on what, security strengths or weaknesses, mission successes or failure, etc, etc, etc.

She doesn't need to know what you do outside the of job sheet description. Anything more than that and you risk going to jail for a long, long time.

My wife knows I go chase bad guys at work. That's about it haha She doesn't need, nor want to, know more than that.

/r
CTT1

[Barbazu]

Gotcha. That's what I figured.