Enhanced Reliability Check (ERC) - Merged

[Arctic Acorn]

Certain trades do require clearances, and officers in the regular force are SUPPOSED to have a Level II. Reason being is that not having one can limit employability. Case in point: a public affairs officer gets posted to a headquarters, and she does not have a security clearance. Even though she has no normal day-to-day need to access classified information, she cannot enter the command area, as it is a secure area, and you need a clearance to enter. She has to leave weekly staff meetings whenever anything sensitive comes up. In short, it's a huge pain in the ass. A secret clearance is not a big deal, and I'm pretty sure they don't even interview folks for it.

As for the article about CSIS interviews, I've been used as a reference for a buddy who needed his Level III. I met with the CSIS guy at my office for a coffee, and they do ask some personal questions. It's not hard to agree with the view that the interviews are a little outdated when the guy asked me if my buddy."Liked girls..." (good thing he didn't subject me to the horrors of the Fruit Machine). However, all those left-wing privacy 'Ethnocultural Council' nuts don't seem to understand that human rights legislation needs to be more flexible when it comes to investigating people for security clearences. CSIS doesn't give a rats ass if you're gay, and usually being in debt isn't a problem. They're trying to ascentain if there is anything about your past that could be used as leverage. They want to know if you're co-optable, bribeable, or if you can be threatened. If you're from a country of concern, or have family still resident there, expect more scrutiny. If privacy crusaders think that an authoritarian regime won't harm a persons family if an intelligence agency in that country is after a targets tasty tasty secrets, they live in a warm, fuzzy dreamworld.

As far as I'm concerned, the "government has no business in the bedrooms of the nation", but when you want to work for the government, and you're applying for a job that will put you in contact with sensitive information, loss privacy is a fact of life. If you don't like it, don't apply.

 

[casing]

You are right.  They don't interview anyone for Level II.  I have Level II and it only took a couple months and no one I am acquainted with was contacted.  Unless they are lying to me about it...  :threat:

 

[Arctic Acorn]

Nah, you'd know...the folks you asked to be references will tell you. It's not like they swear them to secrecy or anything.

 

[casing]

I know, I was just kidding.

Interesting thing about this.   I already have Level II clearance because of my job.   However, I apparently can't just re-assign that clearance to the CF (like I could if I quit this one and got a job at another company) once I swear-in (Aug 25th... counting down the days and hours..... ;D).   Seems like a royal waste of resources to repeat the process (on CF and CSIS part I mean, not mine--I already have the info I need) to redo my clearance as if I didn't have any, but that is of course what's going to happen.   Just one more way of adding to the backlog.

 

[Arctic Acorn]

Well, the good news is that when they get to your file, they'll see that you had a previous security clearance and that will expedite things for you.

The delay will be in -getting- to your file. If there's a backlog, that will delay things for you. It's always a crapshoot trying to figure out timings.

 

[badapple]

going way back in this thread to where the average days to get your file processed, those are most likely worked days, so keep that in mind when you say to your self, wow, mine took 7 months, because 120 worked days IS nearly 7 months

 

[Pieman]

going way back in this thread to where the average days to get your file processed, those are most likely worked days, so keep that in mind when you say to your self, wow, mine took 7 months, because 120 worked days IS nearly 7 months

Despite that it took yours 7 month I believe that it is days, not worked days as I read those kind of statistics off the CISIS websight (who does the security clearance). So the average files should be about 4 months. That is the average so there are plenty that take longer.

I could be mistaken, and I tried to find my source again but to no avail, anyone here know the source of this information? It was interesting becuse it also showed that government employers have their security sweep done about twice as fast as CF people.

 

[Torlyn]

As a federal employee, I believe I can attest to that...  Granted, I'm not aware of the specific difference in security checks, but we are run through CSIS as well.  My security check was completed in 1 month...  Perhaps, owing to the potential for members of our armed forces to come in to contact with more sensitive information, the checks would naturally take longer?  All I know is they would have CPIC'd me, checked my two references, and done a financial screening with my SIN number.  What else do they search for new recruits?

 

[Pieman]

I was also a Federal Employee for my summer jobs while in University, My first summer I showed up for work and we found out that I had to get a Enhanced security clearance to be able to use the computers. They would not let me on the computers at all   because I had no clearance, but that meant I could not do my job.   Then my boss called CSIS and said I had to get it really fast as my job was to work on the computer. I got my Enhanced clearance in less than 7 days.

Granted, this was a special situation, but wonder if they would ever do something like that for a CF personal?

 

[Fruss]

I would like to volonteer for the RCMP and they are doing an enhanced security check..  Will it be valid for the CF or will they do their own?? Joining SigOp in Reg F.

And for them who thinks so, No, I'm not volonteering just for the security check..  :  :dontpanic:

 

[mclipper]

No.  It will not be valid.  CFRC will still conduct an ERC on you.

 

[shad]

Likewise if you already have your Level 1 (or whichever) Security clearance with the CF, the RCMP will still do their own.
Frank, which Detachment are you volunteering with? I applied to volunteer with the UBC Det.

 

[Fruss]

It's in Coquitlam..  on Ridge street I believe..

 

[Ender57]

They'll need one for themselves. It's most likely because there are different things that they will be looking for and it will depend on what you'll be doing for them.

 

[Fruss]

Thanks for the info all of you..

 

[portcullisguy]

The RCMP are special, and allegedly do their own checks.  They do not use the standard public service CSIS check, apparently.

Any RCMP here able to confirm this?

 

[johnny_boy]

Just wondering if anyone knows how long this takes (ballpark). I called the recruiting centre and they said this was the last thing they were waiting on for my file and it would be completed by the 26th of August. Now, I didn't really expect to be done then as I have had the advice of many friends already in that say "Don't believe it until you see it". Anyways, the 26th has come and gone and just wondering how long the check usually takes? It went off around the beginning of August.

 

[mike62]

It could take from one to 6mths...........mine was started in June......nothing yet.........it's the only thing I am waiting on too........

 

[The_Solecist]

All these comments about the length of time required for various clearances is interesting...

There is a level higher than Level III - Top Secret.  It is SA (Special Access) which is really a very small list of people and specific to an exact location, topic, or set of information.

My Level Three took less than 2 weeks to get... I was given 12 days notice to get on a plane for Bosnia.  I got my Passport, vaccinations, and clearance all before take-off.  My file was submitted earlier than that, but they only picked it up to dust off, and process when it became necessary for my deployment.

The bureaucracy of holding files until there is a definite need allows only those who truely need the clearance to get it.

 

[PARAMEDIC]

Heres just some examples of what would make your security check take longer..
1) conviction/ unpardoned
2)bad credit/no credit ...creditors on your arse day and nigth saying wheres mah money$$$
3)minor offensses with cops

if your clean as a slate and you dont have any financial obligations ..then yours could be done in a month .... thats how long it took for me , but then again my credit needed a little clarification and i had to provide letters sayiing that the things that showed up on my credit report were infact payed off 2 yrs ago but weren't removed from the report by my creditors..

word of advice, give eqifax a call and order a report and make sure that if all your bills were paid in full it reflects that on your report if not you;ll be in for some greif trying to get in touch with creditors trying to clear up things.

all in all it can take a month or longer