Abuse Survivor Goes to Work: Part 2
Childhood Abuse and Security Clearances
Good morning and welcome to Part 2 of the ‘Lessons Learned on the job for Abuse Survivors’. In this one we will address whether victims of childhood sexual abuse can obtain and hold a security clearance.
The intent is not a “How To” on the paperwork and processes – that’s more of an exercise for LinkedIn and Google. Also I’d like to generalize this to countries other than the USA if possible.
How can one generalize? The broad general concepts seem to be pretty consistent across governments. Basically there are only so many ways to do the job, and there really is nothing new under the sun.
What is the Government Looking For When Considering You for a Clearance?
For the USA, Google “Security Executive Agent Directive (SEAD) 4”. Ultimately, there are thirteen areas that are investigated. These can be grouped under a few broad categories, and I expect that other nations’ concerns will be similar:
Allegiance: Evaluate acts of treason, espionage, membership in unhelpful groups. This area also includes your susceptibility to foreign influence and preference. Conflicts of interest are addressed.
Personal Conduct: Evaluates your general trustworthiness. This includes alcohol and substance abuse, financial responsibility, criminal conduct, and past handling of sensitive information. This touches on sexual behavior (lawfulness). Misuse of IT equipment and access is a big deal.
There are aspects of personal conduct that are important for abuse survivors – more on this momentarily.
Blackmail: Here is the biggie for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Can your secrets and the possibility of public shame and exposure be used as leverage against you?
Whole-Person Concept
Good news! The process follows the "whole-person concept," meaning all available information is evaluated together rather than focusing on isolated incidents. The process is not a checklist for denying access. Mitigating factors, such as the passage of time, seriousness of the behavior, and steps taken toward rehabilitation, are considered.
Eligibility is granted or denied based on the overall assessment of whether the individual demonstrates honesty, reliability, trustworthiness, and loyalty.
"I've Been in Counseling for Years and Am Taking Antidepressants and Antipsychotics. Should I Even Bother Applying?"
Yes.
It is possible for a person with a history of childhood sexual abuse, counseling, and ongoing psychiatric medication to obtain a security clearance. The adjudicative guidelines take mental health treatment into account but do not automatically disqualify individuals based on counseling or medication use. In fact, SEAD 4 explicitly instructs adjudicators not to discriminate against individuals solely for seeking mental care.
In fact, seeking help for mental health concerns is viewed positively, as it demonstrates self-awareness, responsibility, and a proactive approach to well-being.
Here are the key aspects an investigator will use when weighing psychological conditions:
Stability and Management: Are any psychological conditions well and consistently managed through treatment and medication? Is there evidence a person is stable, reliable, and able to handle sensitive information appropriately?
Treatment Compliance: Are you sticking with the program and consistently engaging with your treatment team?
Impact on Judgment, Reliability, and Trustworthiness: Do your issues impair your ability to make good decisions and handle responsibilities? If you are functioning well in day-to-day life and work, this area is not a concern.
Proactiveness: Seeking treatment for trauma is seen as a positive behavior, not a liability. At the end of the day, the investigators want to see a mature, proactive, and dedicated approach to wellness.
"My Family Does Not Know About What Happened. I'm Horrified Anyone Will Find Out. Now What?"
Honestly, this is a serious problem on many levels. Purely from the lens of a potential employer, it means you are unlikely to get a clearance because this fear and horror could easily be weaponized against you. Blackmail is certainly a tool that foreign intelligence services would be more than willing to use against you. It is literally what they do for a living, and they are damned good at it.
More importantly than any job: At a personal level, living a secret life in your mind and a seemingly “fine” public life is an absolute living hell. I'd suggest that one of your personal treatment goals should be to find safe ways to integrate your secret and public self in a way that establishes the healthy boundaries you need and deserve, destigmatizes what has been done to you, and helps you move forward in life without the burden of secrecy.
Radical Openness
I am a fan of radical openness but know it is not for everyone. I’ve got nothing to hide from my family and friends. And after having my dirtiest laundry aired by a sociopathic supervisor – nothing to hide from any of my colleagues either.
Boundaries: I do require at least a modicum of privacy so my family is not pressured or harassed.
When I entered the workforce, I had been active in the alt.sexual.abuse.recovery (ASAR) community for several years, as well as organizations like Baltimore Men Against Rape. I was struggling to find a good mix of antidepressants but sticking with the program. My significant other and family were well aware of what had happened – at least, insofar as I could remember what had happened. That’s still a work in progress decades on.
Bottom line: blackmail cannot be used against one who is radically open.
Why Radical Openness?
It has nothing to do with employment or hardening oneself against the slings and arrows of others.
I used to bottle up my secrets and emotions and literally felt the shame and torment eating away my insides like hot acid. Decades later, I had a near-death experience (and four major operations) when my damaged guts finally gave out due to accumulated damage from those years of secrecy.
The more I tried to keep secrets – and keep track of who knew what, and how much each person knew – the more the extreme pain in my guts and head became.
Playing the chameleon and adapting your stripes to every situation – and keeping the shattered pieces of your life from interacting and forming a whole – is utterly exhausting. Beyond the mental health issues, it will literally destroy your body (read van der Kolk The Body Keeps the Score).
Openness frees you from the prison of your mind. It gives your body permission to heal what it can. Damage has undoubtedly been done and you may pay a terrible physical price for the crimes of others – but there is no point accumulating interest on that debt.
"Do I Have to Tell My Security Officer?"
Yes.
At the end of the day, your security officer is the person who knows you best and can advocate for your trustworthiness and reliability. This is an important relationship. Fortunately, from both a legal and ethical perspective, this person is bound to secrecy.
Theoretically, nobody can access their notes (or your SF-86 documentation). They are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (Exemption 1 – national security, Exemption 5 – internal deliberations, Exemption 7(E) – law enforcement techniques).
Theoretically, your supervisor will not have access to your SF-86 or these notes, either.
"Will My Therapist, Psychiatrist, Etc., Have to Speak with Investigators?"
Yes.
You are required to provide permission for the investigators to speak with all of your medical and psychiatric team. You are required to permit medical and medication records searches.
Good news? I guarantee this is not your doctors’ first rodeo. They will understand their professional, ethical, and privacy act boundaries.
There is also a very high probability you will be asked to speak with a doctor of the investigating agency’s choosing for evaluation. This is stressful, but remember this is a medical professional and bound by the same laws and ethical considerations as your treatment team.
"Will the Information Leak Anyway?"
Probably.
In my case, if I ever need a copy of my SF-86, I suppose I can just call up the Chinese embassy and ask for one – through the OPM hack they gained access to literally everything. It would be extraordinarily naive to assume this is the only organization to gain such access. Worry (meaning anticipate) the compromise you don’t know about much more than the one you are aware of.
I did have a sociopathic and (of course) wildly successful supervisor somehow get copies of my SF-86 and a lot of very personal information shared with my security officer.
I have no idea how this happened, but you should know that rules and norms simply do not apply to sociopaths.
How I made an enemy of this person and survived the resulting onslaught lies outside the scope of this post. But the two key elements of survival were: radical openness and extensive documentation.
What Can I Do to Prepare?
Documentation: Maintain a running record of any aspects of your trauma treatment. Include:
Dates of therapy and/or doctor’s appointments
Up-to-date lists of medications prescribed
Contact information for all the caregivers on your team
References who can attest to your stability, reliability, and trustworthiness. You will need a lot of these – several for every location you’ve lived. Ideally, you want both personal and professional references.
Mental Attitude and Toughness: You’ve survived abuse. You are overcoming its effects. You are moving forward with your life. You are seeking professional employment to better yourself and those around you. You are a badass!
Even in your weakest moments, you’ve still conquered problems that would defeat mere mortals. Nothing can or will take these accomplishments from you, so you can have confidence in yourself
.