USA Security clearence

[Canadiansimtech]

Does anyone know if a foreigner can acquire a USA secret Security clearence? Being a Canadian Citizen I can read on the website that you have to be a US Citizen, so the has anyone out there worked with foreigners at a secret secured site?
Reason I ask is I have been offered jobs at military sim sites but know one can tell me if I can get security clearence. When I worked at CAE I was NATO secret cleared so I can work on Military contracts. Is that good in the USA. Would the company hiring me have to sponser me for NATO secret? Anyone have a firm answer out there?

Thanks in Advance

[MAllen]

Getting or having a NATO clearance is not the same as US clearance, secret or otherwise. I’ve worked on a number of contracts that have required a clearance, and have never seen a non-US citizen have access to anything marked as US classified. Add things like NOFN and it gets sticky real quick. Then again there’s a lot I haven’t seen, and many changes have taken place over the years. It can be a pain just getting onto some bases nowadays.

Good luck.

[Axeman]

Simple. You must be a US citizen to get a US Security Clearance. Period. A NATO clearance may get you access to certain places (for intstance Brits at Centcom at McDill AFB), but it will not meet the required criteria for a job that is for the US military and states "must be able to obtain a Security Clearance".

A Nato clearance won't even get you in the gate where I work. Believe me, I deal with this crap everyday.

Funny story-

When I was the Site Manager of our Marine Helo site at Camp Pendleton back in the late 90's, I had an opening for a Tech I. The DOL at the time was only $10.24 an hour, and even then you could barely get somebody to say "would you like fries with that?" for that kind of money.

I had this bright eyed, bushy tailed young ITT grad who seemed to be a really sharp, nice young kid that I really wanted to hire. His last name was Rodriguez, as I recall. Hispanic kid, real common in SoCal, I didn't think anything of it.

So I hired him. First day of work, he shows up, fills out all the paperwork, including the security form. I look it over quickly, make sure all the blocks are filled in, and send everything to the home office.

Next day, I get a call from our security office. They want to know what the hell I'm doing hiring a non citizen on a green card for a cleared job!! Boy, did I feel like an idiot!! There's so many Hispanic folks in SoCal, I never even THOUGHT TO ASK if he was a citizen!! D'oh!!

Man, I felt TERRIBLE when I had to let him go........ purplex:

[Canadiansimtech]

Axeman:

Thanks for clearing that question up. That was what I thought the answer was.

[Slam1]

Canadiansimtech,
Not long ago there was a bunch of jobs being offered at different CAFB's on the CF-18 program. They may not be garden spots but they may keep you gainfully employed for a while. We used to even have cleared U.S. military members show up and had to either shut systems down or cover them up.

[dennis_dodo]

Isnt it great that here in the west (and I include the UK) we all trust each other sooooooooooo much that you can be cleared to Secret and above in your respective country, yet your looked on as a potential spy by everyone else, thought the idea of a security clearance was just that.... (and yes I know thats a very simplistic view)

banned:

[The Pirate]

my favorite oxymoron.....military intelligence. lolhit:whoa:

[Ttiny]

Funny When I was in the Air Force (NORAD)we had people in Crypto who were not from the U.S. with Top Clearances serving in the U.S. Air Force, From Canada, Mexico, England, France, even from Turkey. Guess it would be different with the civilian Clearances even though mine carried over when the company picked it up. Well Before 911 , I think Christ was still a corpal back then.

[dalsimtech]

What about former military folks? I've seen jobs that want a security clearance, and I know I had one, albeit only a secret clearance, when I was in the Air Force back in 1987. How long does a clearance last? Nobody ever told me. I can only imagine mine is expired. How long would it take to get one, and can I do it in advance before applying for a job?

dunce:

[mbushaw]

As I understand it, if you had a clearance in the military it will shorten the time it takes to get one as a civilian as they have fewer years to check. I believe they expire when you no longer have a need, but if you go from job to job with a few months in between the process should seem almost immediate.
I don't believe you can get a clearance unless you have a need, so no getting one before you get the job (and the cost would be pretty high too!).

[The Pirate]

the sooner you get the civilian conversion, the better. i had a top secret on discharge, applied through cherry point, got it in 3 weeks, but 5 yreays later, different employer, secret took 3 mo's and cost some bucks for the background and paperwork. remember 1 thing. no matter who "gets" your clearance, it belongs to YOU, not them. i've been told otherwise, and found the truth to be opposite.emo_raise emo_raise emo_raise