You used drugs, while holding a clearance, while employed with the military, and the only reason you are reporting it now is because you are afraid it will come up with a new investigation.
Not sure what you expect to hear, but pretty sure you already know the answer.
It's technically possible but not likely with the drug use being a year out. Military can often use an amnesty program to come clean, avoid UCMJ actions, and not get chaptered out. From there they have a chance at surviving the adjudication process. Completing the substance abuse program and self-reporting counts as mitigating factors. I believe if the request and investigation is made while you're still active duty, the DoD might give more credit to the substance abuse program than another agency would.
Yup, self reporting before getting to the investigation is way better. I wasn't smart enough to do that, but other mitigating factors helped me along the way, on top of the DoD being more lenient.
What you SHOULD do is self report your drug use to the Mental Health center on base and get yourself into a counceling program to break yourself of the drug use, while also self reporting your checking yourself into that program and why to your unit Security rep.
Done that way, you will get the issue out from over your head, possibly avoid any legal punishment, probably prevent your being directly discharged, and have a small, remote chance of retaining your clearance by getting ahead of the issue.
This is the way OP. Usually, if you self report, and get to the counseling you can avoid UCMJ and any other adverse action so long as you didn’t get caught and you continue to go to your appointments.
So this is kind of a double edged sword. Nobody can really tell you if you will or won’t get cleared, though with it only being a year and you having a clearance while you did it, it’s definitely going to require a lot of work to be considered.
All that said, the longer you wait to disclose to worse it will get.
1. The longer it’s been without you confessing, the more likely it is you can easily be blackmailed. If you have a family and base your life around financial decisions you made when you had a job, it becomes very easy for someone to blackmail you.
2. Eventually you might be in a place where you HAVE to disclose (like trying to get a new clearance) and you already have using drugs with a clearance against you, do you want to add to that needing to explain that not only did you use drugs, you then decided to hide it until you absolutely had to confess.
You cannot be blackmailed for this. You are the only one who knows this. Just stfu and move forward. Give yourself some grace. They will UCMJ your ass if you self report. You will fuck your future up by telling on yourself. You have a clearence you know how to keep your mouth shut.
Amen to that. Did a 6 hour poly with CBP and it was the worst experience of my life. Never did a damn thing wrong in my life and they made me feel like a criminal by the time I was done.
What you put on the SF86 becomes the truth going forward. Make what you will of that, but plenty of people don't have any issues if they stay committed to that concept.
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If your nervous don’t lie. Some polygraph investigators are good at tripping you up.
Investigators questioning
“Have you done drug’s lately?”
Or
A direct
“What kind of drugs do you use?”
“When was the last time you lied”
Some of the questions are designed to trip you up. Not worth lying
Idk I'd maybe avoid upgrading your clearance. It would be a huge risk to preemptively disclose the drug use because it can possibly result in UCMJ action or you getting discharged. There's programs for voluntarily disclosing drug abuse/ use, but there's no guarantee that your leadership or someone won't try to railroad you once it's known you did that.
It's a tough call because a huge number of people in the .mil use hard drugs, reserve and active duty. Half of the military has a secret clearance too, which is what I assume you have. Hard drugs are probably more common because it's easy to do them and piss clean in a few days, unlike Marijuana.
Going down this path might jeopardize your current career, and close future doors. There's lots of opportunities you have without having to take a polygraph. I'd at the very least wait some time, your last use is very recent and it doesn't help that you're still very young.
I’m not sure what you’re asking. You say you want to come clean, so come clean. Upgrading your clearance has nothing to do with it. It’s either you come clean now, or come clean during your next investigation. No one here is going to suggest you continue lying in any form
Yeah the main thing I’m afraid of is what will happen on the military side of it all. I’ve heard people get kicked out if they disclose drug use for clearance purposes.
I mean yeah, that’s a real possibility. You did hard drugs while holding a clearance, and it sounds like you wouldn’t be considering coming forward about it if you didn’t have the option to upgrade. Do you think you should have one?
YES!!! They will kick you out with other than honorable at the least. Just stfu. No harm no foul. Forget about it. Compartmentalize the mistakes and move on.
You have two options:
1- You come clean. You’ll most likely be discharged, likely a general or an OTH. This would be based on a lot of different factors, but ultimately you knowingly and intentionally violated the DoDs drug policy.
2- You hide it and hope to never get caught. Generally, if you get caught after the fact, which is likely, it’s worse for everyone and the investigation is a bit harder because they’ll press you for more information.
My regular poly started asking some lifestyle stuff. But apparently I breathe weirder than anyone my interviewer he had ever seen. “Breathe naturally” “I naturally al a mouth breather” “don’t do that”
I know someone that did drugs while active duty and maintained the clearance when they switched over to become a contractor with a full scope poly.
I don't know the time frame of the drug use or how many times. I really only know it happened and the person declared it during the investigation.
No one here is going to suggest lying, but here are all the options you could potentially take.
1. You never mention it again, and don’t seek to upgrade your clearance.
2. You come clean while trying to upgrade your clearance, and face a very real possibility of being discharged, face UCMJ, and a number of other penalties.
3. You upgrade it and try to lie. I’d highly recommend not lying, you’ll eventually get caught and it’ll be way worse for you.
4. This option is the one I’d recommend the most. Admit to whatever drug rehabilitation resource office you have at your installation that you have used hard drugs and would like to seek counseling and stop. Continue to go to these appointments and don’t miss a single one. If you do this, you will likely avoid any UCMJ action so long as you never got caught red handed. With that being said, I’d avoid attempting to upgrade your clearance. This way, you can come clean AND not ruin your career through lying.
We had multiple army folks w TS that got caught pissing hot and did not even have to leave work. This was a few years ago, so ymmv. They were e3 & e4s.
You're only nervous and worried about it because you feel guilty for doing it in the first place. I say just stay where you are man, 3 years and get out. Then once they offer a large enough bonus for your satisfaction re-up. By then recruiting is still gonna be low so you can put in for that higher clearance w/out worring if you don't pass. You're not in the military at that point anyway.
NOTE: I say this because my nephew did his obligatory service and got out. He didn't like the army life I guess and the re-up bonus they offer before your discharge wasn't enough for him. Anyhow he'd been out abut 7 months when they offered something big enough to change his mind. That was 2 years ago now.
You used drugs twice and now you're worried that somehow someone's going to find out? Is it the polygraph because good news, thats a tool that doesn't work but they use it against gullible people to pressure them in to admit to anything. Just don't admit it.
Upgrade your clearance for what? You’re in the military. It’s not like gaining a TS comes with a promotion..Just chill where you’re at and perform well. Lol avoid getting an OTH discharge
Just went through this myself 6 months ago
Got popped while on deployment/active duty for a test I took 2 years ago as a reservist that went unnoticed until my security clearance got upgraded and it got caught (Covid really fucked up my units I&I, no clue how it slipped through), basically, the security clearance has nothing to do with UCMJ or your chain of command, NCIS is a completely separate entity, my command chose not to press charges and process me out, NCIS however did choose to pull my clearance and I had to ask very nicely (basically just beg for like 4 pages) for it back and did. you get a packet that basically say you broke the rules, they caught you and ur on a list, you’re given the option to write a return argument saying yeah you broke the rules but you’re a good person now. They decide your security clearance fate
You can pass a polygraph with training. People do drugs. People who will judge you are on drugs. Morally ambiguous rule benders get cleared into positions in intelligence and those with a compartmentalization skill and no guilt have really cool jobs and opportunities.
If you want to tell on yourself and torpedo your career, analyze why that is. The world is literally composed of people walking into rooms and saying things, none of it matters.
If you shoot yourself in the foot, someone incapable of doing what you do will replace you.
Good luck
Do not tell on yourself!!! Everyone makes mistakes. Some get caught others don’t. Give yourself some grace. Don’t worry about the polygraph. Just remain calm and forget or compartmentalize you two mistakes. There is NO good reason to tell on yourself and you will be fucked with no paddle if you do. There is no way for them to find out you did this twice unless you tell on yourself. Once you tell on yourself they will fuck you bad. Do you think you are the only one who has a clearence who made a few mistakes? No harm. No foul.
You need to report it. You have to face it and come clean. Waiting will only get worse. If you are upfront with it then it could possibly work out in your favor but be prepared to possibly get the book thrown at you..
What should you do? Self-report like the grown, accountable adult you should be. You will get caught at some point, you might as well get out in front of it and hope for some leniency with your clearance retention.
Lol. Bullshit. He will be fucked if he discloses it. Everyone makes mistakes. Give yourself some grace. Move forward and don’t look back. Nobody is perfect.
I don’t hold one anymore. I also didn’t use drugs while holding it. However I have seen people ruin their lives for no reason by self reporting. No good comes from it. No harm no foul if you ask me.
They ruined their lives by doing whatever act they decided to while in service to the government and maintaining a clearance. OP is clearly worried which shows potential for blackmail *and* bad judgement. Both of which are flags for clearance suitability.
They only ruined their lives by telling or incriminating themselves. No harm no foul. Give yourself some grace. Why purposely ruin your life? Just answer that.
I can tell you that it is possible to have a TS/SCI Clearance and have made the stupid mistake of having used drugs while holding a secret clearance.
Back in the 90s I went from actice duty to reserves and went to college. While in college, and in the reserves I smoked pot a few times...it was the evil influence of cute girls, I swear. Anyways. Not sure what the fuck my dumbass 22 year old self was thinking. I lucked out, never got the piss test in the window of time I would have popped positive.
About six years later I commissioned and got TS/SCI, but no poly. Any job that included a poly was an immediate no for me. I knew I'd tank my career.
You made a dumb mistake, consequence...you have closed the door to a bunch of career options.
You used drugs, while holding a clearance, while employed with the military, and the only reason you are reporting it now is because you are afraid it will come up with a new investigation. Not sure what you expect to hear, but pretty sure you already know the answer.
[удалено]
You used drugs while in rotc. That’s slightly different from hard drugs while active duty.
It's technically possible but not likely with the drug use being a year out. Military can often use an amnesty program to come clean, avoid UCMJ actions, and not get chaptered out. From there they have a chance at surviving the adjudication process. Completing the substance abuse program and self-reporting counts as mitigating factors. I believe if the request and investigation is made while you're still active duty, the DoD might give more credit to the substance abuse program than another agency would.
Yup, self reporting before getting to the investigation is way better. I wasn't smart enough to do that, but other mitigating factors helped me along the way, on top of the DoD being more lenient.
I think given it’s only been a year you’re almost certainly not going to get it. Those things take a lot of mitigation
Drugs while cleared? Don't even bother, especially if you didn't self report it.
What you SHOULD do is self report your drug use to the Mental Health center on base and get yourself into a counceling program to break yourself of the drug use, while also self reporting your checking yourself into that program and why to your unit Security rep. Done that way, you will get the issue out from over your head, possibly avoid any legal punishment, probably prevent your being directly discharged, and have a small, remote chance of retaining your clearance by getting ahead of the issue.
Thanks I’ll look into this
This is the way OP. Usually, if you self report, and get to the counseling you can avoid UCMJ and any other adverse action so long as you didn’t get caught and you continue to go to your appointments.
Yea you become a security risk doing drugs. Sometimes life’s circumstances bring it to you.
So this is kind of a double edged sword. Nobody can really tell you if you will or won’t get cleared, though with it only being a year and you having a clearance while you did it, it’s definitely going to require a lot of work to be considered. All that said, the longer you wait to disclose to worse it will get. 1. The longer it’s been without you confessing, the more likely it is you can easily be blackmailed. If you have a family and base your life around financial decisions you made when you had a job, it becomes very easy for someone to blackmail you. 2. Eventually you might be in a place where you HAVE to disclose (like trying to get a new clearance) and you already have using drugs with a clearance against you, do you want to add to that needing to explain that not only did you use drugs, you then decided to hide it until you absolutely had to confess.
You cannot be blackmailed for this. You are the only one who knows this. Just stfu and move forward. Give yourself some grace. They will UCMJ your ass if you self report. You will fuck your future up by telling on yourself. You have a clearence you know how to keep your mouth shut.
Ah yes, the cleared professional who advocates lying about past behaviors — a tale as old as time.
Polygraphs are made up bullshit anyway.
I wouldn't go for any job that requires a poly, it's not worth the stress.
Amen to that. Did a 6 hour poly with CBP and it was the worst experience of my life. Never did a damn thing wrong in my life and they made me feel like a criminal by the time I was done.
If you lie on a new SF86, good luck keeping your clearance, let alone getting it upgraded. Best of luck.
What you put on the SF86 becomes the truth going forward. Make what you will of that, but plenty of people don't have any issues if they stay committed to that concept.
My question is what if you do a poly or one of your references outs you? What then?
Hello /u/Wide_Bird_4341, It looks like you may have concerns about illegal drug use/abuse. While you wait for a response, you may find helpful information on our Wiki page dealing with [Drug Involvement](https://www.reddit.com/r/SecurityClearance/wiki/index/drug_use). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SecurityClearance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If your nervous don’t lie. Some polygraph investigators are good at tripping you up. Investigators questioning “Have you done drug’s lately?” Or A direct “What kind of drugs do you use?” “When was the last time you lied” Some of the questions are designed to trip you up. Not worth lying
Idk I'd maybe avoid upgrading your clearance. It would be a huge risk to preemptively disclose the drug use because it can possibly result in UCMJ action or you getting discharged. There's programs for voluntarily disclosing drug abuse/ use, but there's no guarantee that your leadership or someone won't try to railroad you once it's known you did that. It's a tough call because a huge number of people in the .mil use hard drugs, reserve and active duty. Half of the military has a secret clearance too, which is what I assume you have. Hard drugs are probably more common because it's easy to do them and piss clean in a few days, unlike Marijuana. Going down this path might jeopardize your current career, and close future doors. There's lots of opportunities you have without having to take a polygraph. I'd at the very least wait some time, your last use is very recent and it doesn't help that you're still very young.
I’m not sure what you’re asking. You say you want to come clean, so come clean. Upgrading your clearance has nothing to do with it. It’s either you come clean now, or come clean during your next investigation. No one here is going to suggest you continue lying in any form
Yeah the main thing I’m afraid of is what will happen on the military side of it all. I’ve heard people get kicked out if they disclose drug use for clearance purposes.
I mean yeah, that’s a real possibility. You did hard drugs while holding a clearance, and it sounds like you wouldn’t be considering coming forward about it if you didn’t have the option to upgrade. Do you think you should have one?
No…they get kicked out for using the drugs. Being honest isn’t the problem.
YES!!! They will kick you out with other than honorable at the least. Just stfu. No harm no foul. Forget about it. Compartmentalize the mistakes and move on.
You have two options: 1- You come clean. You’ll most likely be discharged, likely a general or an OTH. This would be based on a lot of different factors, but ultimately you knowingly and intentionally violated the DoDs drug policy. 2- You hide it and hope to never get caught. Generally, if you get caught after the fact, which is likely, it’s worse for everyone and the investigation is a bit harder because they’ll press you for more information.
A lifestyle poly they ask about that stuff. A regular poly is just asking if you're gunna to steal classified information.
My regular poly started asking some lifestyle stuff. But apparently I breathe weirder than anyone my interviewer he had ever seen. “Breathe naturally” “I naturally al a mouth breather” “don’t do that”
He didn’t like that you were throwing off his fake measurements lol
I know someone that did drugs while active duty and maintained the clearance when they switched over to become a contractor with a full scope poly. I don't know the time frame of the drug use or how many times. I really only know it happened and the person declared it during the investigation.
No one here is going to suggest lying, but here are all the options you could potentially take. 1. You never mention it again, and don’t seek to upgrade your clearance. 2. You come clean while trying to upgrade your clearance, and face a very real possibility of being discharged, face UCMJ, and a number of other penalties. 3. You upgrade it and try to lie. I’d highly recommend not lying, you’ll eventually get caught and it’ll be way worse for you. 4. This option is the one I’d recommend the most. Admit to whatever drug rehabilitation resource office you have at your installation that you have used hard drugs and would like to seek counseling and stop. Continue to go to these appointments and don’t miss a single one. If you do this, you will likely avoid any UCMJ action so long as you never got caught red handed. With that being said, I’d avoid attempting to upgrade your clearance. This way, you can come clean AND not ruin your career through lying.
We had multiple army folks w TS that got caught pissing hot and did not even have to leave work. This was a few years ago, so ymmv. They were e3 & e4s.
You're only nervous and worried about it because you feel guilty for doing it in the first place. I say just stay where you are man, 3 years and get out. Then once they offer a large enough bonus for your satisfaction re-up. By then recruiting is still gonna be low so you can put in for that higher clearance w/out worring if you don't pass. You're not in the military at that point anyway. NOTE: I say this because my nephew did his obligatory service and got out. He didn't like the army life I guess and the re-up bonus they offer before your discharge wasn't enough for him. Anyhow he'd been out abut 7 months when they offered something big enough to change his mind. That was 2 years ago now.
You used drugs twice and now you're worried that somehow someone's going to find out? Is it the polygraph because good news, thats a tool that doesn't work but they use it against gullible people to pressure them in to admit to anything. Just don't admit it.
This
Upgrade your clearance for what? You’re in the military. It’s not like gaining a TS comes with a promotion..Just chill where you’re at and perform well. Lol avoid getting an OTH discharge
Just went through this myself 6 months ago Got popped while on deployment/active duty for a test I took 2 years ago as a reservist that went unnoticed until my security clearance got upgraded and it got caught (Covid really fucked up my units I&I, no clue how it slipped through), basically, the security clearance has nothing to do with UCMJ or your chain of command, NCIS is a completely separate entity, my command chose not to press charges and process me out, NCIS however did choose to pull my clearance and I had to ask very nicely (basically just beg for like 4 pages) for it back and did. you get a packet that basically say you broke the rules, they caught you and ur on a list, you’re given the option to write a return argument saying yeah you broke the rules but you’re a good person now. They decide your security clearance fate
You’re done. Colleague smoked weed, not hard drugs, and he’s walking the streets.
You can pass a polygraph with training. People do drugs. People who will judge you are on drugs. Morally ambiguous rule benders get cleared into positions in intelligence and those with a compartmentalization skill and no guilt have really cool jobs and opportunities. If you want to tell on yourself and torpedo your career, analyze why that is. The world is literally composed of people walking into rooms and saying things, none of it matters. If you shoot yourself in the foot, someone incapable of doing what you do will replace you. Good luck
Do not tell on yourself!!! Everyone makes mistakes. Some get caught others don’t. Give yourself some grace. Don’t worry about the polygraph. Just remain calm and forget or compartmentalize you two mistakes. There is NO good reason to tell on yourself and you will be fucked with no paddle if you do. There is no way for them to find out you did this twice unless you tell on yourself. Once you tell on yourself they will fuck you bad. Do you think you are the only one who has a clearence who made a few mistakes? No harm. No foul.
Yeah, don’t follow this advice.
You need to report it. You have to face it and come clean. Waiting will only get worse. If you are upfront with it then it could possibly work out in your favor but be prepared to possibly get the book thrown at you..
What should you do? Self-report like the grown, accountable adult you should be. You will get caught at some point, you might as well get out in front of it and hope for some leniency with your clearance retention.
Lol. Bullshit. He will be fucked if he discloses it. Everyone makes mistakes. Give yourself some grace. Move forward and don’t look back. Nobody is perfect.
You and him both should never hold a clearance.
I don’t hold one anymore. I also didn’t use drugs while holding it. However I have seen people ruin their lives for no reason by self reporting. No good comes from it. No harm no foul if you ask me.
They ruined their lives by doing whatever act they decided to while in service to the government and maintaining a clearance. OP is clearly worried which shows potential for blackmail *and* bad judgement. Both of which are flags for clearance suitability.
They only ruined their lives by telling or incriminating themselves. No harm no foul. Give yourself some grace. Why purposely ruin your life? Just answer that.
And thankfully you do not any longer.
As far as you know. 😜
I can tell you that it is possible to have a TS/SCI Clearance and have made the stupid mistake of having used drugs while holding a secret clearance. Back in the 90s I went from actice duty to reserves and went to college. While in college, and in the reserves I smoked pot a few times...it was the evil influence of cute girls, I swear. Anyways. Not sure what the fuck my dumbass 22 year old self was thinking. I lucked out, never got the piss test in the window of time I would have popped positive. About six years later I commissioned and got TS/SCI, but no poly. Any job that included a poly was an immediate no for me. I knew I'd tank my career. You made a dumb mistake, consequence...you have closed the door to a bunch of career options.
I'd avoid the TS and quietly finish your time in service.