Re: Third attempt

["Howard C. Berkowitz" <hcb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:46 PM -0700 5/10/04, Tim Fewkes wrote:
> Tom,
>
> I am hearing more about 'security clearances' these days, probably 
> because I've got more friends from the east coast than I used to. 
> People who stay on the west coast don't really ever talk about it. 
> How does a normal tax-paying American qualify for a security 
> clearance, if you haven't served in the armed forces?

As an individual, you can't.  Security clearances are only granted 
under the sponsorship of an employer with a contract for classified 
work, which authorizes a certain number of "billets" for people to 
hold clearances.  In general, once you have a clearance, it can be 
transferred, or reactivated up to two years after it's been active.

It's very much a chicken-and-egg situation in the Washington DC area. 
There is extreme demand for people that already hold high-level 
security clearances, which can be transferred to the new employer 
without waiting many months for a security investigation.

> Thomas Larus [tlarus@xxxxxxx] wrote:
> >  get a really high-level job based on "CCIE alone."  Almost all will also
> >  have experience and/or good educational credentials and/or a security
> >  clearance, etc.
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