Privately Obtained Security Clearance?

[quixote100104]

Greetings :-),

I was recently reading a book about privatization in the US intelligence community and mention was made of the career value of a security clearance in certian civillian job fields. The reference was to people joining the military or other government agencies to gain a security clearance, then leveraging that into a better paying civillian job.

That got me wondering...is it possible to privately fund the nessesary investigations, etc. and gain a security clearance that way? Once upon a time I was a Criminal Justice student in college and I recall many fellow students financing thier own way though the police academy to make them more marketable.

Anybody know?

Thanks :-),

[mdin]

In the US, you have to be sponsored by a governmental agency or a cleared contractor to get any of the levels of security clearance. It's one of those can't get a job because I don't have experience/can't get experience because I don't have a job things. Once you're in and your clearance hasn't expired, your life becomes much, much easier to find a job in that industry.

Google DISCO and security clearance, and you'll find more information than you'll ever want to know.

Incidentally, in Arizona to get POST certified (to be a police officer), I'm pretty certain it's the same deal. You have to be sponsored by an agency. It must be different from state to state.

[RJK]

If you work for any government or civilian organization that works on classified material, you will need to be cleared. The FBI will provide the clearence. All security measures work on a "Need to know" basis. You will be cleared to the level that allows you to know what you NEED to know to accomplish your job, no higher. If you leave that position, your clearence will expire with the position. It will be much easier to obtain clearence at the next position, once you've been initially cleared.
To answer your question - get a job working on classified material.

[Gary]

A lot depends on the clearance level you need. You can not privately fund a national security clearance, however, a company might have its own clearance that pertains to company business only. Those clearances have no validity in government business.

A military clearance does not automatically get you any level of clearance with a company that does business with the federal government, and the reverse is also true. Everything depends on a need to know at the present time and clearances can be quickly dropped if your employment status changes, either civilian or military.