Security Clearance Insecurity

A security clearance can get you hired, but it can’t tell you who you are once the uniform comes off. In this episode of Security Clearance Insecurity on Federal News Network, Lindy Kyzer of ClearanceJobs talks with Army veteran Brian McGovern. McGovern served nearly 12 years as a paralegal and public affairs specialist and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the author of Who Am I Now: An NCO’s Guide to Life, Work, and Identity After Military Service.
Brian explains why your transition should start on day one, not in your last six months. He argues that moving straight into cleared work can act as a “shock absorber” that postpones your identity shift rather than completing it. He describes what happens to an NCO’s sense of purpose when the phone stops ringing. He also covers the money mistakes that follow service members into civilian life, which matters because financial issues under Guideline F are a leading cause of clearance revocations. Finally, he talks about why your family is transitioning too, and how he found his people after leaving the Army.
Then security clearance attorney John Berry of Berry & Berry, PLLC joins Lindy to answer a question that comes up constantly: if the government already knows, do you still have to self-report? With continuous vetting and Rap Back flagging incidents in near real time, they cover:
Why reporting a DUI or arrest right away earns you credit.
The steps you can take to start mitigating an issue immediately.
When a security clearance attorney and a criminal defense attorney need to work together.
Why holders with clearances across multiple agencies must report to each one, because the agencies don’t always talk to each other.

Get Brian’s book here.
Have a question or a topic you’d like covered? Email editor@clearancejobs.com.
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Lindy Kyzer of ClearanceJobs talks with Scott Cooper, who leads policy at With Honor, about how veterans in Congress are working across party lines. Scott describes the For Country Caucus, a bipartisan group of more than 50 House and Senate members he calls "radical moderates." He talks about the caucus' role in moving the Russia Sanctions Act and about With Honor's new 13-month fellowship, which places mid-career professionals in congressional offices. The conversation also covers the civil-military divide, why security clearance reform is one of the few truly bipartisan issues on the Hill, and how Congress shapes clearance policy through the NDAA and the Intelligence Authorization Act. Scott closes by explaining why the ethos of service still matters, using a Winslow Homer painting that hangs in his office.
In the second segment, security clearance attorney John Berry joins Lindy to answer a common question: can investigators see social media posts you've deleted? Usually they can't. The real risk is deleting posts to hide something that contradicts your SF-86. They also explain why scrubbing your entire online presence can look like a red flag, and what a sensible approach to privacy looks like for clearance holders and applicants.
This program is for general guidance only and is not legal advice. Send your questions to editor@clearancejobs.com.
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How do we grow the pool of cleared talent instead of competing over the same people? Lindy Kyzer of ClearanceJobs talks with Jamie Jones Miller of Northeastern University, a member of the ClearanceJobs Policy Advisory Board.
Jamie got her first clearance at 19 as an intern at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and she's held one through her career on Capitol Hill, at the Pentagon and now in academia. She explains how Northeastern's co-op program and industrial security team sponsor students for clearances, train future FSOs and place them with industry partners. She and Lindy also cover reciprocity problems, the push for longer eligibility timelines and a clearance ready reserve, and how to keep the human at the center as AI changes the work of intelligence analysts.
Later, security clearance attorney John Berry of Berry & Berry, PLLC joins Lindy to talk about unreported foreign travel. They explain why "I'll just report it on my reinvestigation" is a mistake, what SEAD 3 requires you to report, and how continuous vetting flags travel almost in real time. They also show how a reporting lapse that seems small can add up to a personal conduct concern.
Hear Jamie and more speakers in person at ClearanceJobs Connect Reston, October 15–16 at the Carahsoft office in Reston, Virginia. Register at https://about.clearancejobs.com/employers/events/clearancejobs-connect-reston.
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Lindy Kyzer sits down with The Cipher Brief's COO Brad Christian to preview the 10th annual Threat Conference in Sea Island, Georgia — covering AI's growing role in warfare, the widening public-private innovation gap, and the "gray warfare" tactics adversaries are using inside the U.S. homeland. Apply to attend: https://www.tcbconference.com/
Then, attorney Elisabeth Baker-Pham joins Lindy to unpack a less obvious clearance risk: how conflicts in Ukraine, Israel, and elsewhere can reignite foreign influence and foreign preference concerns (Guidelines B and C) for clearance holders whose foreign contacts were already vetted — through no action of their own.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode of Security Clearance Insecurity covers two timely issues facing the cleared workforce. First, Lindy Kyzer talks with Mike Flanders, founder of SudoTouch, about the technology gap slowing SCI nomination processing and how automation can help security offices keep pace with Trusted Workforce 2.0's shift to continuous vetting.
Then, attorney Elisabeth Baker-Pham joins Lindy to break down Guidelines B and C — foreign influence and foreign preference — and what clearance holders need to know when conflicts abroad (Ukraine, Israel, tensions with China) change how existing foreign contacts are viewed, even without any change in the clearance holder's own behavior.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.