Security FAQ

If you have a question that is not addressed below, please email us at AFRL-Scholars@usra.edu.

  1. How do I transfer my clearance?

    2. After you have completed your internship, USRA will no longer hold your clearance.  Your new employer can access your record in JPAS to review the clearance.

  2. If I am accepted into the AFRL Scholars Program again next year, will I have to complete another SF86?

    3. This will depend on how far your investigation progressed before your internship end date and the time USRA has released your investigation. If you were granted a secret clearance during your internship and/or you already have an active secret clearance, there is significantly less security paperwork to complete.

  3. How long does a civilian contractor's personnel clearance remain in effect?

    4. Normally your clearance remains in effect as long as you remain employed by a cleared contractor and, like in the military, as long as you are expected to require access to classified information as part of your job function.  Also like the military, civilians are required to comply with periodic reinvestigation requirements.

  4. Will my clearance process be faster because I had a clearance three years ago?

    5. The answer is “no” if you previously held a Secret or Confidential clearance. The answer is “potentially” if your previous level was Top Secret and was completed less than five years ago. If so, there is a possibility that a very small portion of the new investigation will not have to be repeated, which may speed up the process.

  5. What do active, current, and expired statuses mean?

    6. A Personnel Security Investigation (PSI) is what security clearances are based on; they are considered either "current" or "expired." A PSI is current as long as it is not more than 15 years old for a Confidential, 10 years old for a Secret, or 5 years old for a Top Secret clearance. If the PSI has expired or there has been a break-in-service of two years or more, a person must be nominated for a new clearance and must complete a new application in the same manner as a person who never had a clearance. That is why it is important to a potential employer that you keep your PSI up to date or renew within two years.

  6. Is it possible to reinstate a clearance after it has been terminated?

    7. Yes. If you had a clearance and the investigation is still current, the clearance can be reinstated by the agency that originally granted the clearance or it can be accepted and granted by a different agency or company. This reinstatement must occur within two years. As a rule, this only requires the submission of a new application.

  7. If my clearance lapses, how long does it take to process a security clearance?

    8. The average end-to-end processing time for all types of clearances is more than 200 days.

  8. When my internship ends, what happens to my clearance?

    9. At the conclusion of your internship, USRA will no longer hold your clearance.  For a secret clearance, an investigation is current as long as it is not more than 10 years old.  If the investigation or clearance has expired or there has been a break-in-service of two years or more, a person must be nominated for a new clearance and must complete a new application in the same manner as a person who never had a clearance.

    For additional information, please visit the Defense Security Services website:  https://www.dss.mil/about/faq/