Q: What is security clearance?
A: Security clearance is a process of determining your trustworthiness and reliability before granting you access to national security information.
Q: What are the levels of classified access?
A: The levels of classified access are confidential, secret, top secret, and sensitive compartmented information, of which top secret is the highest.
Q: Why do I need clearance?
A: Your need clearance whenever you work in a job where you have a potential to cause damage to national security, or in a job where you can gain access to classified information. You need clearance because of executive order 10450, signed by President Dwight Eisenhower on April 17, 1953. Executive order 10450 gives the government the authority to require clearances of employees who request access to national security or sensitive information.
Q: How do I apply for clearance?
A: Many people think they can go to a company or agency and apply for their own clearances. This is far from the truth. The truth is, first you have to get a cleared job, and then, and only then, if you're successful in getting that cleared job, can you apply for clearance.
For example, XYZ Corporation, a mythical U.S. defense contractor, is awarded a DoD contract to work on a "mission critical" project, and thus XYZ has a specific need for a software QA/test engineer with clearance. If XYZ starts to look for a software QA/test engineer, and if you apply for the job, and if XYZ decides to employ you, then XYZ will sponsor you for clearance.
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