Federal jobs have stringent background requirements

By Lily Whiteman

Clearance process is exhaustive, but can lead to higher salary, more opportunity

All applicants who accept offers for federal jobs must undergo a basic background investigation that — with some variation according to the opening — is designed to ensure that that they have no glaring deal-breakers in their backgrounds, such as legal problems.

But more and more jobs with federal agencies and government contractors are requiring security clearances that involve more exhaustive investigations than basic background investigations. A security clearance is an authorization to a fed or contractor to access classified materials needed to do a particular job.

You cannot apply for a security clearance yourself. To obtain a security clearance you must work for an agency or contractor that requests a security clearance for you because your job requires access to classified information.

The main types of clearances are:

Confidential: Provides access to information or material that may cause damage to national security if disclosed without authorization.

Secret: Provides access to information or material that may cause serious damage to national security if disclosed without authorization.

Top secret: Provides access to information or material that may cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if disclosed without authorization.

Sensitive compartmented information: Provides access to intelligence information and material that may require controls for restricted handling within compartmented channels.

Some jobs are open only to applicants who already possess security clearances. But other openings are open to applicants who don’t have security clearances but would be expected to qualify for them. In government lingo, such applicants are called “clearable.” Offers to clearable selectees are usually made on a contingency basis, i.e. the job offer is not solid until the selectee passes his security investigation, and will be rescinded if he fails the investigation.

If you receive a contingency offer, remember that your new job is not a done deal until you pass your security clearance. Even if you consider your record squeaky clean, your job offer may be rescinded if snags are unexpectedly uncovered or if other problems unrelated to your background, such as unanticipated budget woes in your target agency, kill your deal.

The higher a job is up the security clearance ladder, the more exhaustive its associated background investigation will be. But all investigations for security clearances require applicants to complete Standard Form 86, which is accessible on the Office of Personnel Management website, www.opm.gov. Investigations also include interviews with the applicant, the applicant’s current and former friends, neighbors, colleagues, bosses, psychologists and psychiatrists; medical examinations to ensure the applicant’s medical and mental fitness; checks of the applicant’s travel history, foreign contacts, current and previous residences, academic records, military record, credit history, court and police records, employment history; and a polygraph test.

Depending on your target job and employer, you might need a security clearance to advance. Also, feds and contractors possessing clearances of “secret” and above are generally more marketable and generally earn significantly higher salaries than their counterparts whose jobs don’t require security clearances.

What types of jobs require clearances? Jobs addressing financial management, scientific research, diplomacy, defense, auditing, law enforcement and intelligence are most likely to require security clearances. Indeed, virtually everyone who works for the FBI — even administrative assistants — must pass security clearances.

Also, certain types of jobs are particularly likely to require security clearances — such as human resources personnel who access staffers’ personnel information, accountants who access confidential financial information, auditors who access legal information, and information technology professionals who access secure systems, to name just a few.

Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns

Gun-buyer background checks missing data

By Steve Bennish 
and Tiffany Y. Lattas

Dayton Daily News

Ohio screens out mentally ill people who try to buy firearms, but the state isn’t reporting all known drug abusers to a national system that could prevent them from buying guns, a first-of-its-kind survey of 50 states found.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns said in its report “Fatal Gaps” that federal agencies and states in some cases ignore federal law and fail to report records about potentially dangerous people to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS.

Analysis of FBI data showed that millions of records of seriously mentally ill people and drug abusers are missing from the NICS database because of lax and inconsistent reporting among the states.

Mayors, including leaders from Dayton, Riverside and Brookville, are advocates for tougher federal, state and local legislation against illegal firearm sales and ownership.

Ohio has identified 26,876 mental health cases and forwarded those since the state passed a law in 2004. But 23 states and the District of Columbia have submitted fewer than 100 mental health records to the federal database.

Seventeen states submitted fewer than 10 mental health records, and four states haven’t submitted any records.

Substance abuse records also are underreported nationwide, and while many Ohio drug abusers show up in NICS when arrested and convicted, others fall through the cracks.

Ohio Attorney General’s Office spokesman Dan Tierney said the state updates arrests and convictions daily through the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. State law, however, lacks a provision for reporting all known drug abusers to the federal database, he added. Ohio’s mentally ill show up in the system when they are ordered by a court to receive mental health treatment.

Instances of drug abuse that fall short of a conviction — such as failing a drug test when applying for a state job, telling a state agency you have a drug problem, or court diversion into a drug rehab program — aren’t reported because Ohio doesn’t have the infrastructure “to submit evidence of substance abuse outside of arrest and conviction records,” the mayors group said.

The report said that although federal regulations and policy require that failed drug tests, single drug-related arrests or admission of drug use within the past year temporarily disqualify a person from possessing a gun, “the vast majority of states are unaware that these records should be shared with NICS.”

Between 1999 and 2009, NICS processed 100 million background checks and blocked an estimated 1.6 million permit applications and gun sales to people prohibited from possessing guns.

A working system to screen out dangerous mentally ill people doesn’t always prevent potential killers from getting firearms even though it is illegal to provide a firearm to someone who has been judged to have been mentally ill to such a degree that hospitalization is necessary.

Following the shooting death of Clark County Deputy Suzanne Hopper New Year’s Day in a Clark County trailer camp by Michael Ferryman, a 57-year-old with a history of mental illness and gun violence, a father and daughter were indicted for giving Ferryman the shotgun he used. Ferryman was shot dead in the incident and a German Twp. officer was wounded.

Jean Blessing, 81, of Englewood, was charged with complicity to having weapons under disability. Blessing’s daughter and Ferryman’s girlfriend, Maria Blessing, was indicted on the same charge and on a charge of obstructing justice for lying to investigators about the gun. She was later sentenced to five years in prison. Monday, prosecutors dropped charges against Jean Blessing, saying he was incompetent to stand trial.

Ferryman had been ruled not guilty by reason of insanity in another shooting at police officers in Morgan County in 2001. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital and then conditionally released. He was supposed to be monitored by mental health services.

Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly and Prosecutor Andy Wilson called for creating a database of those with severe mental illness coupled with a history of violence, especially violence against police, similar to the sex offender database.

“Most of the guns used in crimes are obtained illegally or through casual sales such as garage sales or classified ads,” Kelly said. His department created a database to include about five individuals who have been adjudicated criminally insane, but a national database doesn’t exist.

Kelly said a state and national database could alert officers on traffic stops or other action when a person is mentally ill and the officer should consider different tactics that could lead to a different outcome.

Wilson said Ferryman was in the NICS system and would not have been able to purchase a gun legally. Wilson said when Hopper responded to a shots fired call at Enon Beach Recreation Park on New Year’s Day, she didn’t realize she was walking into a situation with a man who had fired shots at police in the past.

“The key is giving street officers more information about the people who have been adjudicated mentally ill. They register sex offenders. Anyone can access a sex offender database; but there’s no mechanism nationally for officers to know they’re coming upon a mentally ill, violent person,” Wilson said.

Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns

New Jersey town considers criminal checks on fire department applicants

By Kathyrn Burger

Pasack Valley Community Life

Criminal background checks will be part of the vetting process for those who want to join the ParkRidge Volunteer Fire Department if Ordinance 2011-034, approved on first reading at the Monday, Nov. 14 council meeting, is approved on second reading at the Tuesday, Nov. 29 meeting. Many municipalities in the state have adopted similar ordinances. ParFire Chief Bob Ludwig said that since 9/11, background checks for fire departments have become common. "Hillsdale has had one for years and Woodcliff Lake recently approved theirs," he said. Heightened concerns about security in the wake of the terrorist attacks were the impetus for the requirement, he said. "One of our police officers who lives in Hillsdale, applied to join their fire department. He had to have a complete background check – and he was a resident and a police officer."

Volunteer fire department chiefs decide whether or not to recommend an applicant after the applicant has been interviewed and provided references. Ludwig said, "Years ago, when the municipality was smaller, it was easier to determine a person's background. Often, we knew who they were before they applied. Now, the town has grown and there are more people, many of whom have only lived here a few years." He said it is difficult to make an educated judgment about an applicant when all they have to go on is the interview and information they provide. "We check references, but don't have anything else to go on. And usually, whoever the chief recommends is approved by the council."

That responsibility is another reason why the criminal background check is important. All firefighters get the same training and maintain their active status by fulfilling the same requirements, whether they are paid or not. "It's up to the chief to make sure that department members are trustworthy" and can back one another up, Ludwig said, adding that liability issues factor into the equation. "On the federal, state and local levels, there's no difference between a paid firefighter and a volunteer firefighter," as far as liability is concerned, he said. "The requirements are the same whether a firefighter is paid or is a volunteer," he said, and so are the risks.

The costs associated with the background check, including fingerprinting and the actual investigation into an applicant's history, will be paid by the department. "We don't want to discourage people from applying by having an enrollment fee," he said. But that amount is small in comparison to the cost for each new member, all of which is borne by the department. "There's the training at the academy, turnout gear that can run $4,000, a radio – that's about $500. It's a big investment," he said.

When someone applies, the department's officers conduct the interview and explain what is involved in membership. Ludwig said, "We go over all the expectations and answer their questions. They have to know what they are getting involved in. There are a lot of prerequisites. They have to go the [Bergen County Law and Public Safety Institute] Fire Academy – that's a six-month process – and pass. Then they are probationary members. There are attendance requirements, annual physicals, a dress code, long hair and beards are not permitted. When we're done with the interview, the applicant knows what's expected of them. With the investment we're making, we don't want someone to decide after a couple of months, 'This isn't for me,'" because they didn't know what was required, he said.

The ordinance specifically addresses types of criminal conduct. It reads, in part, "Any person convicted of a crime in the first or second degree… shall be ineligible for membership" in the department. In addition, it specifies that, "Any person convicted of a crime of the third or fourth degree… may be eligible for membership… subject to review and recommendation of the Borough Council and the Board of Fire Officers."

Results of criminal background checks are returned to the Park Ridge Police Department, which, after review, will provide a written statement to the borough administrator stating that either the applicant has no disqualifying criminal history, or a summary of any disqualifying criminal charges or convictions, according to the ordinance. The borough administrator will advise the chief of the fire department if the applicant meets the standards for membership or does not. Applicants who do not meet the standard may meet with the borough administrator and borough attorney to review the basis for the determination.

The importance of criminal background checks – even for law enforcement personnel seeking to serve as volunteer firefighters – is driven not only by the desire to have reliable, trustworthy people as members, but by the demands of insurance carriers, Ludwig said. "Driver's license transcripts are reviewed by the borough yearly. Even when members are driving themselves to a call, they are covered by insurance the moment a call comes in, even at home, and even if they aren't driving a municipal vehicle. We have to be sure they're arriving here 'legally.'"

Ludwig said, "The borough government makes the final decision on the suitability of applicants; the fire department recommends people. The background check is another tool for gauging a person's worthiness to serve."

Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns

Casting assistant's past prompts calls for screening

By Dawn C. Chmielewski
Los Angeles Times

A convicted child molester working as a Hollywood casting director began cooperating with a Los Angeles Police Department investigation, while child protection advocates called for background checks for those with access to child actors.

Jason James Murphy, who served prison time for the 1996 kidnapping and molesting of an 8-year-old boy in suburban Seattle, has spent the last decade working as a casting assistant. He helped find young actors for movies including the science fiction hit "Super 8" and the forthcoming comedy "The Three Stooges."

The casting directors who hired Murphy — who obtained casting jobs under the name Jason James — said they were unaware of his criminal conviction. LAPD representatives said Friday that, although Murphy is under investigation, there is no evidence that he had committed new crimes.

Murphy's Hollywood career has caused anxiety among parents of child actors on the film and TV audition circuit.
"They're just freaking out," said Anne Henry, co-founder of BizParentz Foundation, a nonprofit support group for parents whose children work in the entertainment industry. Henry said she spent the morning dealing with frantic parents worried that Murphy might have been alone with their children during casting sessions and could have obtained photos or videotapes of them.

"It's the one place in our industry when the kids are alone," Henry said. "In casting situations, the parents are never in the room for an audition. Some guy comes up. They take your kid down the hall and disappear for 20 minutes. You never know."

Murphy, 35, is cooperating with an investigation into whether he complied with requirements for registered sex offenders, said Det. Christopher Merlo of the department's West Bureau Registration Enforcement and Compliance Team. "It's a complicated investigation because we have to do a lot of research on where he's been and what he's done," Merlo said, adding that detectives so far have no evidence of additional victims.

Murphy has declined repeated requests for interviews. Henry and other advocates called for fingerprinting and background checks for anyone having contact with minors, as is customary for coaches, Boy Scout leaders and child-care providers.

"The industry has to recognize we have any number of predators who have insinuated themselves into the world of children. They are dance teachers, drama teachers, gymnastics teachers, coaches — as we have seen at Penn State," said Paul Petersen, a former child actor who founded A Minor Consideration, a nonprofit advocacy group for young performers. "And no one is doing any checking."

Others called on unions to do more thorough screening.

Acting coach and manager Betty Bridges has been vocal about pressing the unions to conduct thorough checks on casting agents and directors. Her son Todd, who starred on the NBC comedy "Diff'rent Strokes," was sexually abused as a child by his publicist. "The unions need to do a background check," she said. "They need to make sure that every time they put in a casting director, they need to know what her or his background is."
Since 2008, under the name Jason James, Murphy has been a member of Teamsters Local 399, whose business agent, Ed Duffy, said, "We're very saddened by this situation, if in fact it's true."

Local 399 also represents location managers and studio drivers. But unlike drivers, Duffy said, casting directors do not have to be licensed and are not subject to drug and alcohol testing. "It's up to the employer to vet these people," he added

Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns