<p>Hi, I am currently a 2nd year undergrad student majoring in aerospace engineering, but I'm thinking of switching to mechanical because I have doubts of my ability to obtain a secret clearance. I have a really bad juvenile record, mainly because I was hanging around a bad crowd, and I have a bad driving record as well. I don't have any felonies but a couple of misdemeanors, all as juvenile. I have been relatively clean since I turned 18 though, just have one minor traffic violation. I'm guessing I have little to no chance at getting a secret clearance if they check my juvenile records. Do they look at your juvenile records or are they really "sealed" after you turn 18? </p>
<p>How many jobs in the aerospace sector require a secret clearance? If I can't get a clearance then would I be making a big mistake by majoring in aerospace engineering?</p>
<p>Usually there is a 5 or 10 year time horizon for clearances. But don’t leave anything off when you fill out your forms. As long as the issue is disclosed, it should be ok. What they are really looking for are security risks. If it is something about you that is known, you can’t be blackmailed about it, so it couldn’t be a way for a foreign power to compromise you and coerce you into disclosing secrets. If there are other reasons to believe you might have divided loyalty, for example if you had close relatives in North Korea, you would also have a problem.</p>
<p>“Minor” traffic problems don’t matter, depending on your definition of minor. Many of your juvenile problems may not matter either, unfortunately from your vague description (I don’t blame you) I can’t really tell what may count against you.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me with specifics of your crimes, if you feel comfortable. I am a senior aerospace engineering major with a clearance, so I may be able to help give some advice.</p>
<p>Most important: Be honest when completing forms. As others have indicated, the risk of blackmail is huge. And just as important, your credit report…do you have or will you have a lot of debt? Financial background as well as criminal history play a huge part in clearances.</p>
<p>It never came up for me, but if you are in your early 20’s I am pretty sure that they will want to know about your Juvie record - it is too recent to be ignored. As others have mentioned, DON’T LIE, as they will forgive passed failures but will NOT forgive current dishonesty. As to whether YOUR offenses will be forgiven it does indeed depend greatly on what they were.</p>
<p>FWIW, there are plenty of aerospace jobs that do NOT require a clearance, but most of the REALLY cutting edge stuff does. Also FWIW, I have a misdemeanor on my record as an adult and still got a clearance.</p>
<p>Yes, the investigation will include your juvenile days if you are under 22/23. Once you are older than that, the investigation will go back as far as age 18.</p>
<p>Good advice has already been given. That’s right, getting caught in a lie will severely hurt your chances, regardless of your background. </p>
<p>A Secret clearance isn’t that hard to obtain - I had one twice during military service. I’m sure there are posters on here who have (or had) a much higher clearance. What’s evaluated is your mental stability, blackmail potential, and loyalty to the US.</p>
<p>Professional positions require a professional lifestyle - the career you are pursuing is not like working for a some construction subcontractors, where the issue is who <em>hasn’t</em> done hard time. A clean record (minor traffic violation here and there shouldn’t be a problem) is expected. Especially is your line of work requires (at least from time to time) a security clearance.</p>
<p>Most recent Presidents couldn’t get a Secret Clearance. They’ve been caught in lies, committed war crimes and done other things contrary to the Constitution of the United States. Yet no one makes a fuss over them and they are the Commander-in-Chief of all U.S. military forces. How in hell did that happen?</p>