You are correct - it does not have anything to do with clearances other than gathering info from many agencies to ensure someone is eligible to go through the clearance process. Eligible = things like no felonies, no domestic violence - simple things that would show up in a standard employment background check. Those things can also be used in the actual investigation to see if the applicant will mention them or lie about them.
Before 2019 the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) did the clearance investigations once a person was initially vetted. Now the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) does them. I'm not a fan of OPM because of the number of times my info was stolen in the many hacks they suffered. Dumbasses.
A big HOWEVER should be here though. The FBI can say a person is not eligible to go through the clearance process. Trump can bypass that by having background investigations performed elsewhere. He had to do that with Kushner because of the many conflicts of interest he had. The FBI was trying to do the same here but Trump knows better now.
The FBI just does the background investigations. They don't issue clearances.
You are correct - it does not have anything to do with clearances other than gathering info from many agencies to ensure someone is eligible to go through the clearance process. Eligible = things like no felonies, no domestic violence - simple things that would show up in a standard employment background check. Those things can also be used in the actual investigation to see if the applicant will mention them or lie about them.
Before 2019 the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) did the clearance investigations once a person was initially vetted. Now the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) does them. I'm not a fan of OPM because of the number of times my info was stolen in the many hacks they suffered. Dumbasses.
https://www.dcsa.mil/Personnel-Security/Background-Investigations-for-Applicants/Investigations-Clearance-Process/
A big HOWEVER should be here though. The FBI can say a person is not eligible to go through the clearance process. Trump can bypass that by having background investigations performed elsewhere. He had to do that with Kushner because of the many conflicts of interest he had. The FBI was trying to do the same here but Trump knows better now.