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What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

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Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#71

Post by c0nsumer »

saalweachter wrote: post #47
mcv wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a very obscure allergy to some specific compounds in some medication. It gives me a rash, nothing serious. I'm always very diligent in mentioning what little I still remember about that allergy.

I've spent thirty years telling doctors I'm allergic to amoxicillin; I'm not sure if I am, but that's how my parents started every doctor visit when I was small so I carry on the tradition. I think I might have thrown up after taking it as a small child, but I have no recollection myself.

I have something similar with epinephrine. Every visit I'm asked "allergy to epinephrine?" and I have to, again, clarify "no, but I'm sensitive to it, and it makes me really jittery, so I prefer to not have it unless there's no choice". It makes me feel like I've had way too much caffeine and is just generally unpleasant.

Those conversations don't seem tomatter much, because when getting common small procedures done (such as mole removal) the doctor will use whatever they prefer. Epinephrine is a vascoconstrictor, so it helps with bleeding and keeps the anesthesia (eg: lidocaine) from wearing off as quickly. So, doctor's prefer it. So each time I have to ask the doctor if that's the variant they are using, and if they could do without. Sometimes they do, sometimes they explain why it's best not to and we go ahead with.

I know I could outright say allergy and they wouldn't use it, but I really don't want to cut off a useful tool for them, for no good reason other than I don't like a minor, short-lasting side effect.

Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#72

Post by dwighttk »

Agentlien wrote: post #53
mcv wrote: post #29

I'm so that guy. Not for security clearance, but medical questionaires. I always fill them in with total honesty, listing the most minor and irrelevant details if they fit the question. My wife keeps telling me not to fill that stuff in, and she's quite the opposite, giving the preferred answer everywhere, even when I think: "but shouldn't you mention that thing?" Of the two of us, she's the one who has tons of exper…

Sometimes you just can't win, though. I used to work for a Swedish company making training simulations for surgeons. There are of course special rules regarding customs declarations of medical equipment. Our salespeople often complained that when entering the U.S. it was basically a coin toss if the customs agent would be angry with them for declaring our simulator as "medical equipment" and wasting their time, or ge…

Yeah I think the lesson I took out of the story was DO put that you have been investigated by the FBI and let the guy you give the form to tell you to leave it off…

Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#73

Post by felipemnoa »

koliber wrote: post #68
bell-cot wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. But most people, after they've been grown-ups for a while, figure out that "find the winning lotto ticket on the sidewalk and get rich" is not how life actually works. And with a war on...the FBI's kids, simpletons, day dreamers, and glory hounds should have been closely supervised by real grown-ups. Or transferred to lines of work better suited to their talents.

> most people, after they've been grown-ups for a while, figure out that "find the winning lotto ticket on the sidewalk and get rich" True, but it's not completely bleak either. I once wanted to take out $40 from an ATM, and it gave me $60! I never told anyone and this is the first time I am sharing this. If a time comes to fill out a security clearance application, should this go in there? Moral of the story: it tak…

Your secret is safe with us ;)

Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#74

Post by eloisius »

stingraycharles wrote: post #70
technothrasher wrote: post #67

"Here, fill it out again and don't mention that." I had the exact same experience when applying for a clearance while I was in college, for the "have you taken illegal drugs" question. When I honestly answered yes, the interviewer got fidgety and then asked, "well do you take them now?" no. "Do you know any drug users?" We're on a college campus, what would you like me to say? "Well, are you friends with any of them?…

What would the ramifications be if they ever found out you lied? It’s an innocent lie, but still, I can imagine that lying on these types of forms could turn out badly.

Perjury

Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#75

Post by skissane »

koliber wrote: post #68
bell-cot wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. But most people, after they've been grown-ups for a while, figure out that "find the winning lotto ticket on the sidewalk and get rich" is not how life actually works. And with a war on...the FBI's kids, simpletons, day dreamers, and glory hounds should have been closely supervised by real grown-ups. Or transferred to lines of work better suited to their talents.

> most people, after they've been grown-ups for a while, figure out that "find the winning lotto ticket on the sidewalk and get rich" True, but it's not completely bleak either. I once wanted to take out $40 from an ATM, and it gave me $60! I never told anyone and this is the first time I am sharing this. If a time comes to fill out a security clearance application, should this go in there? Moral of the story: it tak…

> True, but it's not completely bleak either. I once wanted to take out $40 from an ATM, and it gave me $60!

One time, I wanted to take $40 out of an ATM, it gave me $80 instead. I checked my Internet banking - they had the ATM withdrawal at the expected location, but only for $40, which is all I’d asked for. Then, a few days later, I got another $40 debit transaction, but of a strange type I’d never seen before - it was labelled something like “MANUAL ADJUSTMENT”. I assume someone at the bank had worked out that the ATM screwed up and manually corrected it.

Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#76

Post by stingraycharles »

eloisius wrote: post #74
stingraycharles wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would the ramifications be if they ever found out you lied? It’s an innocent lie, but still, I can imagine that lying on these types of forms could turn out badly.

Perjury

Exactly. So what is the best approach here? Ignore it? Pretend to be of good faith?

Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#77

Post by technothrasher »

stingraycharles wrote: post #70
technothrasher wrote: post #67

"Here, fill it out again and don't mention that." I had the exact same experience when applying for a clearance while I was in college, for the "have you taken illegal drugs" question. When I honestly answered yes, the interviewer got fidgety and then asked, "well do you take them now?" no. "Do you know any drug users?" We're on a college campus, what would you like me to say? "Well, are you friends with any of them?…

What would the ramifications be if they ever found out you lied? It’s an innocent lie, but still, I can imagine that lying on these types of forms could turn out badly.

I don't know, likely at very least they would take away the clearance. That was all over thirty years ago now and I have nothing to do with anything that requires a clearance any longer so I'm not overly worried about it at this point.

Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#78

Post by wnkrshm »

pram wrote: post #65

I had a TS/SCI clearance when I was in the military, and I don't even recall being interviewed. I filled out some background information form and months later I was unceremoniously informed I had received it. Maybe it's just more stringent for civilians?

They will investigate your background, whether you have any ties to family abroad by which you could be blackmailed etc.

An acquaintance of mine (from East-Germany) had a US boyfriend who started to work for Lockheed - in the interview he was asked "Why doesn't your Eat-German girlfriend answer her phone?". She said she got some calls from an unknown number and didn't pick up.

Edit: I meant Eastern Germany, after unification (but her parents lived in East-Germany, i.e. the GDR) my bad.

Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#79

Post by rvba »

bell-cot wrote: post #10

Sadly, the moral of the story seems to be that the 1943 FBI had loads of zealous (performative?) plods on staff, but ~zero law enforcement professionals. In '43, the US had plenty of highly competent professional cryptographers, who were quite experienced with current Japanese, German, Italian, British, etc. codes. Before an entire local FBI office spent even a day on this case (let alone 6 weeks), maybe they should…

Well maybe the local office didnt have anything else to do. So they followed this lead as a top priority since they had no other leads.

Money would be spend on the wages of those agents anyway, even if they had nothing to do.

Re: What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)

#80

Post by 082349872349872 »

dotancohen wrote: post #41

My email sig for years: > This electronic communication has been processed by the United > States National Security Agency. I've had lots of people tell me about this as if they're informing me about something nefarious. I've stopped responding, because no matter what I answer _I_ appear to be the one with some kind of problem.

Avalanche rescue dogs are rewarded for their accurate reports, whether they find bodies or not.

Once upon a time, out of mechanical sympathy, it used to be popular to add keywords (eg. ДНР ЛНР SSBN-731 龍坡海軍基地 etc.) in .sig files, to give the descendants of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_7950_Harvest#Usage something to report.

(and back when I was tangentially involved with impedance matching crunch with high-capacity/high-bandwidth datastores, I wondered how "dual use" nominally civilian scientific programs like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Earth_Science might be.)

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