Well back then whenever anyone was up for a govt security clearance one of the first questions the investigators asked was "Are you now or were you ever a member of the communist party or any communist organization". They also used to ask if you were a homosexual or bisexual.
Amazing how those questions were removed during the Clinton years. I was asked those questions the first time through the clearance process, but they were removed by the time my 5-year investigation rolled around.
Interestingly I again went through the process 15 years after I got out of the air force. I needed my Q clearance to be an NRC cyber inspector. They investigated me for a DoD Top Secret SSBI and once it was granted they awarded the Q (reciprocity). I filled out the same paperwork (only it was online by then), and it not only did not have the prior 2 questions but they also lessened their views on drug use.
Before if you used drugs - whether or not you self-identified - your clearance was denied. When I did the process the last time I told them I tried pot in Amsterdam after I left the military and about 10 years prior to that interview, and I only did it one time. The investigator told me they no longer cared about brief "experiments" unless the person did not disclose and their investigators found out on their own. She laughed and said a lot of people were afraid to disclose and ended up getting denied. If they were honest they breezed right through.
Being gay isn't irrelevant, but not for a puritanical reason but rather that it was just another box on the list of deceptions.
It matters for that reason.
Well back then whenever anyone was up for a govt security clearance one of the first questions the investigators asked was "Are you now or were you ever a member of the communist party or any communist organization". They also used to ask if you were a homosexual or bisexual.
Amazing how those questions were removed during the Clinton years. I was asked those questions the first time through the clearance process, but they were removed by the time my 5-year investigation rolled around.
Interestingly I again went through the process 15 years after I got out of the air force. I needed my Q clearance to be an NRC cyber inspector. They investigated me for a DoD Top Secret SSBI and once it was granted they awarded the Q (reciprocity). I filled out the same paperwork (only it was online by then), and it not only did not have the prior 2 questions but they also lessened their views on drug use.
Before if you used drugs - whether or not you self-identified - your clearance was denied. When I did the process the last time I told them I tried pot in Amsterdam after I left the military and about 10 years prior to that interview, and I only did it one time. The investigator told me they no longer cared about brief "experiments" unless the person did not disclose and their investigators found out on their own. She laughed and said a lot of people were afraid to disclose and ended up getting denied. If they were honest they breezed right through.