[clug] security

[Alan Vidler]

On 29/09/2013 2:16 PM, Rob Bolin wrote:
> The proces can also take 6 to 12 months depending on the level required,
> with no guarentee that a clearance will be granted
>
> Rob
> (Not working in IT but in an area with clearances)
>
The whole thing might be worse than some are stating - it 
certainly used to be:

Back in my working days, in ~1990-93 I had 3 successive IT contracts:

1. PM&C (potentially I could see, even edit, Cabinet Minutes...)

2. Defence (really just needed unescorted building access)

3. Immigration (not really sure why needed security clearance at 
all!)

Main grizzle was each needed different processes for clearance 
and each ignored prior clearance;
The one 'serious' clearance needed was #1 and got that within 4 
days (PM Bob Hawke was jumping up and down wanting the job done 
'yesterday')
The other two each took ~4 months (#2 completed just as job 
finished), and both strongly insisted previous clearances 
irrelevant...
Each had different 'areas of interest'. Eg. One of the latter 2 
got very excited about fact I'd visited Russia as a tourist in 
1/1978 (Trans Siberian railway)

I hope (but am not confident) that 'the government' have got 
their 'Security Clearance' act together a bit better by now...

Alan V