Obligations (interim Secret but no training)
My TS is in the works, and I recently got an interim Secret clearance. The COL specifies TS, and my new company has no work at the Secret level, so I will not be hired until I get at least an interim TS. This also means that I am not getting any training yet about living with a clearance.
So are there any obligations that I need to look out for? For example, if I book an international vacation or take international business travel with my current private sector company, I have to tell my FSO, right? Or is there a government site that I need to register the travel with? Are there countries that are off-limits for travel, even though I have never been exposed to any classified information? I assume that if I get arrested for something (but not just a traffic ticket?), I need to contact my FSO?
Is there a good tutorial that is publicly available for this kind of stuff? Are there any other "gotchas" that I need to know about, just because I now have a clearance? Do I need to report certain foreign contacts? It sounds kind of dangerous to sit around with a clearance that might impose restrictions and obligations, and not have any training.
Posted May 21, 2019, 10:48 AM UTC
It is interesting that they didn’t provide you with any info when you received your interim. I would reach out to your contact at your future employer and ask if they can pass along any training materials they may have on required reporting etc.
Basically, If you go on international travel, you have to report it. I don’t believe this applies to business travel in support of government work though. If you move or get married, you have to report it. If you have any adverse information (you go arrested, you did drugs, you defaulted on a loan) you have to report it. For your basic secret or TS clearance there is no specific public list of countries that you are forbidden from or anything, just be mindful that trips to certain countries (the obvious ones) could be a point of discussion for your ongoing investigation and cause the process to take longer.
Thanks for the info.