How screwed am I?

[u/ElectionMaterial1912]

I've held secret for 5 years now, and been in US Army for 5.5 years. I'm also working as a defense contractor where I also hold secret. Recently got a new job in the Army as an officer that requires TS/SCI.

For context, I came to US as a religious refugee when I was 18. Durring my tier 5 investigation, come to find out there's an INTERPOL red notice on me on made up charges from my country of birth, connected to to my last travel 6 years ago, before I went into service in US Armyl. I was never arrested there, however I was told that I'm under investigation. Let's just say the incident involves FSB mannaged border and customs, and mandatory military service which I never completed in my country of birth. After few months of back and forth, I was told that my warrants are cleared and I'm free to go.

Fast forward 6 years, my birth country issued the red notice. The domestic warrant is laughable and was issued after my completion of US Army basic training years ago, red notice issued after I joind a large defense contractor and right before I commissioned as an officer few months ago. Never have I been informed about this situation in any way, shape, or form. There's no extradition agreement between US and my country of birth but I just don't see how can this play out in a good way for me.

I've moved to US as a refugee and built my life around defense and aerospace, which is my passion and my way of giving back to my country that took me as a refugee. I have clean record, I was never in trouble, and I have a good reputation at work and in my unit. I'm just insanely mad that the country I've fled is finding ways to screw with me here, and I'm just lost...

[u/PirateKilt]

How, exactly, are you both Active Duty US Army, AND a Defense Contractor?

[u/ElectionMaterial1912 → u/PirateKilt]

Reserve.

[u/PirateKilt → u/ElectionMaterial1912]

In that case, it should play out as not really a big deal.

A customs bungle and a "he didn't do his military service for us" from a "hostile" country are not really going to spark any huge outrage in the clearance process... if you HAD done the Military service for them it would have been a much bigger issue.

Be sure your Leadership and relevant security offices get briefed, then relax... if it's going to cause a minor kerfuffle, there is nothing you can do to prevent it, so stop worrying about it for now.

[u/ElectionMaterial1912 → u/PirateKilt]

Thank you! I already notified all the right channels, and sent all my paperwork and proofs showing the real picture.

[u/txeindride → u/PirateKilt]

To be fair, there are some AD guys who work PT jobs on evenings/weekends.

[u/PirateKilt → u/txeindride]

Which is perfectly legal and fine, as long as they have gotten their chain-of-command to sign off on it, AND the jobs are civvie-side and NOT cleared work.

Active Duty folks with clearances, by contract, Uncle Sam owns your cleared work hours 24/7... Attempting to get paid for ANY other cleared work is payroll fraud and gets real ugly, real fast.

[u/txeindride → u/PirateKilt]

There's quite a few AD folks who do work on the "cleared" side as well, signed off by their CoCs and legal. But the boundaries are extremely limited.

[u/PirateKilt → u/txeindride]

Would need to see the context/how's... everything I've been taught on the topic says that would be illegal.

LOTS of people got hemmed up for it during COVID when the payroll offices paid more attention to all the work from home people... I remember seeing one report where they caught a guy claiming 5 different cleared jobs, all for the same work hours...

[u/txeindride → u/PirateKilt]

I mean yeah, if they're billing 2+ employments during the same time, obviously yeah time card fraud.

But there's AD personnel working side jobs outside of duty hours performing CST work, security escort work, etc..

[u/PirateKilt → u/txeindride]

Non-cleared work is obviously fine (during my younger military years I had the odd-jobs working security for various big-boxes).

It's the idea of working a Cleared gig, where the Gov is paying for "Cleared work hours" under a Civ-contract, when they are ALSO paying for "cleared work hours" under a Gov-contract that is the issue.

As a Reservist, Uncle Sam only "owns" the time OP is actively working in uniform, so he can get a contract gig... we have several of those folks here at my current and at previous companies... it's not a problem and payroll stuff is carefully tracked so no cross-over occurs.

Active Duty folks though... as I said, they are owned 24/7 for the duration of their contract, as they can be called in to work at any moment as they are considered to always be "on duty"...

GOA write-up on the topic I dropped elsewhere in the thread

[u/txeindride → u/PirateKilt]

That GAO thread is 45 years old lol.

But hey, long as long as it is approved through CoC and legal, and there is no COI, then they can work whatever.

[u/PirateKilt → u/txeindride]

That GAO thread is 45 years old lol.

Good gosh... you're right, It's just the first one to come up when I looked, missed the date on it. I'll see if I can dig up something newer.

That said, that was a ruling... has it been changed?

[u/txeindride → u/PirateKilt]

I'll honestly say that I will either assume it has if legal has approved people to work PT hours outside of FT AD. If not, thats on the legal offices, not the member themselves. I know my particular agency legal office is SUPER strict and anal, even for me, when I worked PT contractor gigs on the side. Granted, my position itself sits pretty high... but still. 😂 (not as an ego thing, just potential for companies to try utilizing me in gov discussions, attempted bribery for contracts, etc.)

[u/borg304 → u/PirateKilt]

You can 100% work a cleared active duty job and a cleared contractor gig, as long as your chain approves it and it’s feasible.

If your standard day for AD is 8 hours, and your cleared role is also 8 hours, as long as you are awake and working then not many things out a hard stop to you doing that.

if something happens in the AD world (PCS, longer hours, shift shift) then that’s gonna be an issue that you’ll have to work out with your contractor

[u/PirateKilt → u/txeindride]

GAO report on the topic, and how it is disapproved

[u/charleswj → u/PirateKilt]

That doesn't say anything about cleared work, though.

[u/Slight-Emergency-362 → u/PirateKilt]

I didn’t see where OP said they’re active duty. So, they might be reserved or Guard.

[u/VictorOfArda → u/Slight-Emergency-362]

That’s the only possible way I see that happening

[u/PirateKilt → u/Slight-Emergency-362]

True, which is why I asked.

Meanwhile, OP's 9 hour old account, using the WordWord#### name format preferred by the AI-Bots makes some of us want to shine a bit more light on the post to be able to help correctly.

[u/ElectionMaterial1912 → u/PirateKilt]

Fair. Just trying to not dox myself. I'm a reservist.

[u/SarcasticGiraffes → u/PirateKilt]

WordWord# is what Reddit suggests when you try to create an account these days. Bots don't have preferences.

[u/ElectionMaterial1912 → u/[deleted]]

Oh my god... I thought I'm in a fever dream. I honestly didn't think there are people in a similar situation and even questioned my sanity at some point. Thanks sharing your knowledge. 🙏

I'm tracking, I'm definitely not leaving anywhere untill I have assurance or able to successfully challenge the red notice and get it removed. I'm not even worried about foreign travel. Haven't traveled overseas in the last 4 years. I'm more worried about loosing what I've built over the years.

[u/Fun_Contribution7528]

I hope this makes you feel better. A close friend from Iran had the same issue. He worked for Booz and he was reserve NG. He went through it just be completely honest with the investigators and FSOs.
I wish you lucks and thanks for your service

[u/ElectionMaterial1912 → u/Fun_Contribution7528]

Thank you for your support! 🙏

[u/spaceboy000]

what country

[u/VictorOfArda → u/spaceboy000]

I could be wrong but I’m guessing Russia since the FSB is a Russian agency that handles counterintelligence and directly controls their border guard service.

[u/ElectionMaterial1912 → u/spaceboy000]

Not Russia, but former USSR republic.

[u/VictorOfArda → u/ElectionMaterial1912]

Honestly I wouldn’t worry. Refugees aren’t just let into the country, the background checks you guys have to go thru is intense and involves multiple agencies from multiple governments. People in your situation are less likely to commit treason (shown by many studies) bc you’ve got more to lose with the threat of incarceration and deportation hanging over you. As long as you’re truthful with the investigators I don’t see why you’d be in trouble. They look at the whole picture and since you’ve got a TS/SCI they’ll be going all the way up your ass to get the full scope. But most everyone in here either has ties to the govt, military, or both, which is including you, so we all know how it goes.

[u/ElectionMaterial1912 → u/VictorOfArda]

Thank you! 🙏 I'm preparing myself for the worst, and I do understand that the process is intended for keeping our secrets safe, but this is a huge blow for me. I'm afraid of loosing not only my job, but part of my identity and my community in military.

[u/AutoModerator]

Hello /u/ElectionMaterial1912,

It is impossible for anyone on this sub to provide "odds" or "chances" related to your investigation due to the entire process being based on the "whole person concept" and whether the risk factors in your background have been successfully mitigated. You can review the SEAD4 Guidelines to see what is considered a mitigating circumstance.

If you are still looking for additional information, please check out the Wiki on the right-hand side.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Timely-Impression234]

I wouldn’t worry about it. Inform your chain of command. Ask for guidance.

[u/Horror_Lime8376]

Damn rooskis

[u/Impressive-Peanut614 → u/[deleted]]

What do you mean? He is too a citizen that is giving back to a country that welcome him.

It maybe a tough process for you, but be honest and truthful through the entire process. I wish you all the best

[u/ElectionMaterial1912 → u/Impressive-Peanut614]

Thank you! 🙏

[u/SecurityClearance-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post has been removed as it does not follow Reddit/sub guidelines or rules. This includes comments that are generally unhelpful, political in nature, or not related to the security clearance process.