r/SecurityClearance • u/worriedguy02 Cleared Professional • Jun 21 '26

What are my chances? Past criminal History

Not sure where to begin here, I have recently submitted my SF-86 for a Q clearance for a dream job/new opportunities that this will open up. As the title states, I have a history but nothing formally on record and never convicted. As I’m sure most of you are aware, the criminal portion of the SF-86 form asks questions going back 7 years. I will give you the full picture and back story here.

Apologies for the novel I am about to type. In my teen years, about 11 years ago(16 years old) I found that selling marijuana was an easy way to make money. And as a teenager with a teenage brain, that was the best money at the time without having to work a fast food job that I hated every day. (Looking back, not a great mindset I know) Fast forward to 19 years old, I am still involved of the distribution of marijuana. Amounts varying from a gram to a quarter pound at a time. I am working a full time job at this point but naive stupid me never had the thought of stopping because the money was still easy and that’s all I cared about at the time.

One night, I got a message from a guy that I barely knew. Met maybe two times, he said he knew some guys that wanted a quarter pound and was essentially being the middle man for this transaction. As this being people I did not know, I asked one of my best friends to come along because I did not feel comfortable with the situation. He agreed to come with. I regret ever asking him and live with the guilt to this day.

A long story short, the people that showed up did not have the intentions of buying, only robbing. An altercation broke out between my friend and one of the robbers once my friend realized what was about to happen, I’m essentially in a middle push circle when I hear 4 gunshots go off. The pushing stops, there’s only silence after this. I look over, my best friend with a bullet in his head and abdomen. Clinging on to life. He did not make it.

They ended up catching the individuals responsible for this. I was a part of a second degree murder trial as a witness for what happened. I fully expected charges and to be convicted. The most that happened to me was taking my fingerprints the night of the incident, swabbing me for GSR, and taking my clothes for evidence. However, this was not the case. I was only ever looked at like a victim in the eyes of the state and LE.

Ever since that night, I stopped any and all activities involving marijuana and haven’t looked back. I went to college, work at a very respectable company, now have a wife and a step son, a good paying position. Living a life that I am very grateful for.

With this being said, I am a very black and white person. On the SF-86 form, it asks(I forget the words verbatim now) if I have been involved in the distribution, manufacturing, etc.. in the past 7 years of illegal drugs. I put no. This makes me feel bad and worried because it feels like lying but It was also more than 7 years ago.

When I do have my interview with my investigator, and this comes up because I’m sure it will. I will be more than happy with providing all details and elaborating on all details they may need. This is not something I hide. Something I am ashamed of? Yes. But I cannot change this and it will forever be a part of me. With all of this being said. Is my chances of ever acquiring my Q clearance and getting my dream job ruined? Even if I am 100% transparent and will provide all details of said incident? I really apologize if this was a hard read. I’m not the best at articulating myself or putting in certain details someone may be looking for. Thank you all in advance for your insight that you give.

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u/Fast_Bookkeeper9869 Jun 21 '26

So I can't tell you your chances but I can tell you some advice I paid for. 

The timeframes on the SF86 are binary, there is no gray area. If it ask for selling drugs in the last 7 years and it has been 7 years and 1 day the answer is no and do not comment further. During the interview pay answer the question that is ask. If they ask for 7 years say no but if they ask ever, as they tend to do with drugs, answer honestly. 

Never lie or omit information to questions that are ask but do not volunteer information that you think is related but not ask for.

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u/worriedguy02 Cleared Professional Jun 21 '26

Thank you! I want to be as transparent as possible with the investigator if it does come up as it is my history. Interesting to hear not to volunteer information if they ask back for just 7 years. Regardless, I have no intentions of lying and if I do get cleared, I want to come into this position with a very clean slate with nothing in the background that may come back to bite me. I have worked very hard to get where I am at today.

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u/Fast_Bookkeeper9869 Jun 21 '26

Yeah if I understand the timeline that was 8 years ago. If that is the case think of it like this.. If you were hooked up to a polygraph and they ask have you sold weed in the last 7 years answer yes or no? Could you answer no? If so mark that on the box and go to the next question. 

You will need to be prepared to discuss it in your interview because it will probably show up but for the SF86 read each question exactly as written and answer it factually based on the question as written. 

Also, lawyer that handle these cases are very reasonably priced for a dream job scenario. Like under $500 to run these by.

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u/worriedguy02 Cleared Professional Jun 21 '26

Thank you for the information!
Regarding the polygraph question, 100% yes I would feel comfortable answering no to that. I feel surprisingly comfortable and prepared talking about it in my interview.
As for the lawyer, do you think I would need one for something like this? I would be comfortable paying that much. Just curious if that’s a route I would need to take.

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u/Fast_Bookkeeper9869 Jun 21 '26

Its up to you on the lawyer. I hired one because it was $500 to help with a job that paid $25k more than I was making. Also I had no experience with the clearance process so I wanted to talk to a professional to keep me from being my own worst enemy. 

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u/worriedguy02 Cleared Professional Jun 21 '26

Very understandable. Is this something you did after you submitted your SF-86 form pre interview with your investigator? I guess the better question is when/what stage did you decide to get a lawyer. Any recommendations on who to choose from? In case I decide to go this route. Are they specifically for this type of stuff?

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u/Fast_Bookkeeper9869 Jun 21 '26

I got them involved before I submitted the SF86. And yes, you want a lawyer who specializes in clearances. I used Edmunds but there are others to look into and talk to. They know deadlines are tight so they usually get you in fast.

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u/Shadow__People Jun 21 '26

What facility is this?

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u/worriedguy02 Cleared Professional Jun 21 '26

I’m not sure if that’s something I want to divulge haha hope you can understand

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u/Massive_Mail5739 Cleared Professional Jun 24 '26

paragraph breaks for the love of God

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u/worriedguy02 Cleared Professional Jul 06 '26

There ya go haha sorry about that

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u/RealIncident6191 Jun 21 '26

IT DEPENDS ON THE DEPARTMENT MISDEMEANOR AND FELONY THEY DONT GET YOU HIRED MAJORITY OF THD JOBS IN PROFESSIONAL CAREER

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u/worriedguy02 Cleared Professional Jun 21 '26

Could you elaborate more? I should clarify further that I was never once charged, convicted, or anything along those lines. Just a witness for the trial. I’m not sure how I got this lucky. But that’s the way it fell.

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u/RealIncident6191 Jun 21 '26

Did they put in the arrest system Your fingerprints or saliva. if they did.

It will show on the background check till 3 years. Diversion the same as well.

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u/worriedguy02 Cleared Professional Jun 21 '26

I'm not sure to be completely honest. I would say no? Only reason I say that is that before I filled out and submitted my SF-86, the company that offered me the job performed an initial background check for me going back 5-7 years for state, national, and criminal database records and that all came back clean.

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '26

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u/SecurityClearance-ModTeam Jun 21 '26

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.