4 ms·

It's not about drug tests; most of the time there is no testing. If you admit to actively using drugs, you'll be denied. If you lie and they find out, you'll be

It's not about drug tests; most of the time there is no testing. If you admit to actively using drugs, you'll be denied. If you lie and they find out, you'll be denied and barred forever. They're going to talk to your friends and neighbors and there's a good chance they'll find out. And your claims about beating tests on a few hours' notice are nonsense.

Jerrrry 5y ago
They don't talk to anyone, and you can beat any urine test with full bladder of coffee/water.
- moron4hire 5y ago
  They definitely talk to absolutely everyone you list on your application form. And superhydration is going to, at the very least, get you a second drug test a week later. THC resides in your body's fat cells, so it takes quite a long time before it fully clears your system to no longer be detectable in a drug test.
- wil421 5y ago
  Complete BS. I had to do a public trust verification (SF85P) last year and they spoke to 3 friends, a neighbor, 3 old co workers, former and current boss, a coworker in the same office as me, and a former land lord. They even told me of it wasn’t for COVID all would be in person.
leroy_masochist 5y ago
> They're going to talk to your friends and neighbors and there's a good chance they'll find out. They're going to talk to the three friends you listed on your SF-86 and your former landlords at the address listed. Many people seem to think that SSBI investigations consist of, like, the Stasi slapping people around in basements trying to find out what people are hiding. Far from it. If you don't have an arrest record and were discreet about your prior drug use (ie not putting it on social media) and your friends have common sense, you have little to worry about. The process is a lot more about confirming that you lived where you said you did / had no contact with foreign agents than it is about uncovering prior drug use. Anecdotally, it is very common for people to get a waiver for "occasional experimentation with marijuana in high school" when in fact they were enthusiastic recreational drug users for years. As far as drug use goes, SSBIs are essentially a Potemkin process. Given the extent to which selective amnesia is prevalent among SCI applicants, I think it would make sense to reform the process so that applicants can be fully transparent and forgiven for their past transgressions as long as they piss clean.
- musingsole 5y ago
  > They're going to talk to the three friends you listed on your SF-86 and your former landlords at the address listed. No? They'll branch out and talk to anyone tangentially related to you for only small reasons.
  - leroy_masochist 5y ago
    Not in the case of the two SSBIs I've been through. YMMV, I guess.
    - musingsole 5y ago
      > YMMV, I guess. Yeah, quite literally.
moron4hire 5y ago
Yes, but if you admit honestly to having had used, but promise ever so sincerely to never do it again (this time, for sure), then you don't get denied (on that account). I've even seen the FBI agents in the interviews not-so-subtly guiding people towards the "right answer".
- caymanjim 5y ago
  Yeah, I admitted it on my SF-86, and while it prompted them to interview more people, and delayed my clearance by about six weeks, it all worked out fine. They don't really care if you've smoked weed. They don't even care if you're still smoking weed (although you have to play the "it was in the past" game). They don't care about this kind of stuff. What they care about is what you're trying to hide, because if you're hiding something, you can be blackmailed. So just fess up and you'll be fine. Try to lie or cheat, and you're blacklisted for life, and rightfully so.
  - moron4hire 5y ago
    I actually had the opposite problem when I went for one about 20 years ago. They didn't believe me when I told them I had never smoked weed. At that point in my life, I hadn't. It took interviewing all my friends to finally convince them I wasn't lying.
namlem 5y ago
You can definitely buy some synthetic urine on a few hours notice.

Jerrrry 5y ago

They don't talk to anyone, and you can beat any urine test with full bladder of coffee/water.

moron4hire 5y ago
They definitely talk to absolutely everyone you list on your application form. And superhydration is going to, at the very least, get you a second drug test a week later. THC resides in your body's fat cells, so it takes quite a long time before it fully clears your system to no longer be detectable in a drug test.
wil421 5y ago
Complete BS. I had to do a public trust verification (SF85P) last year and they spoke to 3 friends, a neighbor, 3 old co workers, former and current boss, a coworker in the same office as me, and a former land lord. They even told me of it wasn’t for COVID all would be in person.

leroy_masochist 5y ago

> They're going to talk to your friends and neighbors and there's a good chance they'll find out. They're going to talk to the three friends you listed on your SF-86 and your former landlords at the address listed. Many people seem to think that SSBI investigations consist of, like, the Stasi slapping people around in basements trying to find out what people are hiding. Far from it. If you don't have an arrest record and were discreet about your prior drug use (ie not putting it on social media) and your friends have common sense, you have little to worry about. The process is a lot more about confirming that you lived where you said you did / had no contact with foreign agents than it is about uncovering prior drug use. Anecdotally, it is very common for people to get a waiver for "occasional experimentation with marijuana in high school" when in fact they were enthusiastic recreational drug users for years. As far as drug use goes, SSBIs are essentially a Potemkin process. Given the extent to which selective amnesia is prevalent among SCI applicants, I think it would make sense to reform the process so that applicants can be fully transparent and forgiven for their past transgressions as long as they piss clean.

musingsole 5y ago
> They're going to talk to the three friends you listed on your SF-86 and your former landlords at the address listed. No? They'll branch out and talk to anyone tangentially related to you for only small reasons.
- leroy_masochist 5y ago
  Not in the case of the two SSBIs I've been through. YMMV, I guess.
  - musingsole 5y ago
    > YMMV, I guess. Yeah, quite literally.

moron4hire 5y ago

Yes, but if you admit honestly to having had used, but promise ever so sincerely to never do it again (this time, for sure), then you don't get denied (on that account). I've even seen the FBI agents in the interviews not-so-subtly guiding people towards the "right answer".

caymanjim 5y ago
Yeah, I admitted it on my SF-86, and while it prompted them to interview more people, and delayed my clearance by about six weeks, it all worked out fine. They don't really care if you've smoked weed. They don't even care if you're still smoking weed (although you have to play the "it was in the past" game). They don't care about this kind of stuff. What they care about is what you're trying to hide, because if you're hiding something, you can be blackmailed. So just fess up and you'll be fine. Try to lie or cheat, and you're blacklisted for life, and rightfully so.
- moron4hire 5y ago
  I actually had the opposite problem when I went for one about 20 years ago. They didn't believe me when I told them I had never smoked weed. At that point in my life, I hadn't. It took interviewing all my friends to finally convince them I wasn't lying.

namlem 5y ago

You can definitely buy some synthetic urine on a few hours notice.