Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
1–10 of 55 posts
Re: Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
#2Rule of Thumb: Unless either (1) your family has been "in that line of work" for several decades, or (2) a Clearance is needed for long-term success in your chosen field, the grief & weirdness of getting & maintaining a Security Clearance is Just Not Worth It.
Re: Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
#3Getting a security clearance comes with liability and potential downside that doesn't exist in the private sector. Some examples:
* Restrictions and reporting requirements around international travel and contact with foreign nationals
* Restrictions on discussing work with friends and family
* Prohibition on cannabis use
* Prohibition on reading publicly leaked secret documents (from the Snowden days: https://web.archive.org/web/20211120154017/https://sgp.fas.o...)
Interns-to-be should consider carefully whether this lasting infringement on personal liberty is worth any upside of employment at a defense contractor for 3 months.
Re: Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
#4Getting a security clearance comes with liability and potential downside that doesn't exist in the private sector. Some examples: * Restrictions and reporting requirements around international travel and contact with foreign nationals * Restrictions on discussing work with friends and family * Prohibition on cannabis use * Prohibition on reading publicly leaked secret documents (from the Snowden days: https://web.arc…
Note that there are different clearances with different restrictions and obligations. Lower level clearances are not much different than standard background checks to obtain an HSPF-12 credential (US Gov ID badge) while higher level clearances may require periodic polygraph tests and other additional restrictions.
https://www.commerce.gov/osy/programs/credentialing/hspd-12-...
Re: Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
#5Rule of Thumb: Unless either (1) your family has been "in that line of work" for several decades, or (2) a Clearance is needed for long-term success in your chosen field, the grief & weirdness of getting & maintaining a Security Clearance is Just Not Worth It.
The upside being having a security clearance is means almost always having a job available.
Re: Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
#6A job that requires a security clearance is not a job that I want to be doing, ever.
Re: Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
#7A job that requires a security clearance is not a job that I want to be doing, ever.
Why’s that? I’m really not familiar with the ins and outs of clearance.
Do you have ethical reasons? Or practical?
Re: Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
#8Getting a security clearance comes with liability and potential downside that doesn't exist in the private sector. Some examples: * Restrictions and reporting requirements around international travel and contact with foreign nationals * Restrictions on discussing work with friends and family * Prohibition on cannabis use * Prohibition on reading publicly leaked secret documents (from the Snowden days: https://web.arc…
I believe the only lasting restriction is speaking about the work due to an NDA, which is not that different than NDA restrictions on speaking about private sector trade secrets and intellectual property. The other restrictions only last if seeking to maintain the clearance or employed in a position that requires a clearance. Clearances expire except for the NDA.
Re: Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
#9Having done startups in the national security space (and had to deal with clearances) -- it's a bad system from both directions -- overly onerous compliance for good people AND ineffective at addressing modern security risks. It made sense in the 1950s as a way to protect large development and operational programs with long tenure employment against penetration by an external adversary (USSR), and to a limited extent, ideological or financially motivated defectors. It doesn't work as well today where someone can become "radicalized" online, foreign/international contacts are routine, etc.
Just being a citizenship bar, even if it did nothing else, really complicates hiring in tech -- what you often end up doing is having as much work as possible done uncleared/commercially and then thrown over the wall to cleared people who can implement it with the client. Works well in infosec with mostly systems integrated with commercial stuff; doesn't work with jet engines or missiles as well
Clearances being handed out like relative candy to 18-28 year olds in the military (so, for someone like Manning, approximately zero information responsive to requests (as minor records excluded, and the 7-10 year lookback isn't relevant when you have far fewer adult years), extreme reluctance to suspend or revoke a clearance when granted), and ineffective reporting of incidents.
The hassle of holding a clearance to some extent depends on the issuing agency/level (DOD Secret is relatively non-hassle; law enforcement ones are more lifestyle focused on paper at lower levels; substantial travel restrictions for levels/programs come in above Secret too).
There is also the difference between official restrictions and reality -- given OPM hack and general government incompetence, it's safe to assume your info becomes public or at least known to adversaries, so even after a clearance expires, it would probably be unwise to travel to some countries for a much longer period. Also exposes your family/other contacts to hassle from both USG investigators and potential foreign adversaries.
Re: Palantir’s accelerated security clearance plan for students
#10It definitely takes a long time and makes it hard to employ people.
I've had SC clearance twice in the UK, which isn't too bad, just a couple of months or so. Even so, I saw people sit around waiting for their clearance, unable to do anything, and then leave before they had managed to do anything.
One job I applied for needed a DV clearance, and that takes a really long time. They advised me to get another job in the meantime, but it was just too much hassle, so I passed on it.