What is a Federal Government Security Clearance and how do I know if I have one?

Question

I'm filling in a job application and a question is: Do you have federal government security clearance? I'm assuming I do, seeing as I was born here... but I'd like to be sure! Can someone help me out? Thanks!

Answer 1

You don't get one for just being born here, silly. You have to have worked in some capacity for the Fed to have gotten one. Chances are actually that if you have to ask what it is, you don't have one.

Answer 2

No birth in the country does not give you a clearance. It does give you citizenship; which is a crucial factor in getting or be rejected to receive a clearance.
If a clearance at the secret level is required; a NAC (National Agency Check) is required. This is just a check with all Federal and Local authorities to see if you have a record.
If a clearance stipulated is higher, you must fill out extensive paperwork and wait for an investigation to be completed on you. You won't be able to initiate this process by yourself nor would you want to. The employer or agency requesting the investigation picks up the tab. The cost of an investigation is expensive and generally employers seek to hire people who already possess a clearance so that they do not have to pay for it. Once you receive your clearance, you will have it for 5 years and then must apply for a reinvestigation. The benefit is that the investigation will only cover the last 5 years after you received your first clearance. Generally if an employer explicitly states that the position requires a clearance, forget about even wasting your time applying. If the employer states, must be capable of obtaining a clearance, then apply. That means they are willing to pay for the investigation and the only thing that matters is you have a clean record. Hope this helps.
This site should answer all additional questions in more depth.
ps vote for me

http://www.state.gov/m/ds/clearances/c10978.htm

Answer 3

All security clearances go inactive after one year. They can be reactivated though. After a certain time, if not reactivated, they are invalidated and have to be started again from scratch. Top Secret - 5 years Secret - 10 years Confidential - 15 years.

Answer 4

If you had been granted a security clearance by the federal government you would know it. it would have been in conjunction with your federal employment involing the handling classified documents. The levels are Confidential, Secret,Top Secret, and a few that go higher but we need not go into. You would have been issued a color coded photo I.D. badge showing your clearance level, Green (Confidential) Blue (secret) or red (top secret).