Security Clearance Administrative Withdrawals for Federal Employees

Under the current white house administration’s downsizing efforts of the federal workforce, there are thousands of federal employees who have either been terminated or took the deferred resignation offer from the Department of Government Efficiency. Many of these employees have some level of security clearance. What will their clearance status be once they no longer employed? Technically, once a clearance holder is no longer in a position that requires the access, the clearance is supposed to be administratively withdrawn by the granting agency.

Traditionally, when an employee with a security clearance leaves their agency, they are debriefed by their Special Security Officer, but with the unprecedented pace of current terminations and those being put on paid administrative leave, there is no way for agencies to actually debrief security clearance holders. So, what happens in these cases? How are the withdrawal of clearances processed? In the security professional world, we call it an “Administrative Debrief”. This is where the security specialist, once notified an employee is no longer with the agency and is not available for a debrief, will pull the employee’s SF-312, Non-Disclosure Agreement, and mark the employee’s signature block for the debrief with the words “administratively withdrawn”, and will then go into the appropriate systems and record that the clearance as withdrawn – no longer active.

For employees who want to continue working in cleared positions, as long as they obtain a position that requires a clearance within 24 months of their clearance being administratively withdrawn, they would not have to undergo a new background investigation. They might have to fill out a new SF-86 to see if any new issues have come up and have a new criminal history check run before being granted eligibility.