Hush-Hush: Obtaining a Government Security Clearance

You Just Can't Get Some Jobs Without One

Finally, after months of searching and interviewing for government and government contractor jobs, you get the good news -- you won the position -- with a condition attached.

The condition: The job is yours following the successful completion of a background check that will determine your suitability for a U.S. government Top Secret, Secret or Confidential security clearance.

This is called a "conditional offer," meaning that there is no guarantee that the job is yours until your background investigation is complete and you are cleared. Given the importance of this process to your career, there are a few facts you should know about it and how it works.

What it All Means

Background checks, conducted in the interest of national security, are required to determine if a person is reliable, trustworthy, of good conduct and character, and of complete and unswerving loyalty to the United States. Not all government and government-related jobs require such checks, as it depends on whether or not the position requires a security clearance to access classified information.

The type of clearance required, meanwhile, depends on the information used to perform each job's duties. There are three primary types of clearances, determined by the agency that handles the information (or the president and vice president) and generally described as follows:

¿ Confidential clearances are for positions accessing information with the potential for damage to national security.

¿ Secret clearances are for positions accessing information with the potential for serious damage to national security.

¿ Top Secret security clearances are for positions accessing information with the potential for exceptionally grave damage to national security.

Individuals holding higher-level clearances are allowed to see lower-level information -- so, for example, someone with Top Secret clearance can also see information marked Secret and Confidential.

Two other types of specialized clearances are worth noting. Sensitive Compartmented Information clearances provide access to all classified information handled within a specific "compartment" -- essentially, a group working on specific matters, such as cryptography or nuclear weapons. Special Access Programs clearances, meanwhile, allow access to particularly sensitive information beyond the Top Secret level.

The Investigation