Dual Citizenship, Top secret clearence

[mrgrey]

Hey guys so I had a question about dual citizenship and Top Secret Clearance.

So I am American, I was born in America but my biological father whom I don't see much, encouraged me to get a - because he is a French Citizen and their rules are if you a are a citizen then your children are automatically citizens.

I don't speak French nor have I even been to France. Should I get rid of my citizenship before I start applying to Guard Units, and if so, how does one do that?

[JetTest]

Can't say for certain in all cases, but in my rather lengthy experience I do not know of anyone granted even secret with dual citizenship.

[Prinz_Eugn]

Yeah, I don't know any details but I would assume it's a no-go. Renouncing citizenship is the key phrase for google, but I'm not sure that would help with Top Secret, or you might have to wait X years or something before qualifying.

[neurotech]

What I heard was that the key question is "Do you have loyalties to (other country)?" and "Would you be willing to give up your citizenship of (Other Country)?"

I know a few Russian-born officers with TS Clearance but they had been US citizens since their childhood, and didn't maintain their Russian citizenship after adoption.

[structuresguy]

No it would not keep you from getting a clearance either S or TS. However based solely because your father is a foreign national this will place you as a tier III and will cause your investigation to take longer. Even if you give up your French citizenship or had never obtained it. What job are you looking at that makes you feel you'd need a TS?

[TJSmitty]

Dual citizenship is associated with two categories of security concerns: foreign influence and foreign preference. Dual citizenship in itself is not the major problem in obtaining or retaining security clearance in the United States. If a security clearance applicant's dual citizenship is "based solely on parents' citizenship or birth in a foreign country", that can be a mitigating condition.
However, exercising (taking advantage of the entitlements of) a non-U.S. citizenship can cause problems. For example, possession and/or use of a foreign pp is a condition disqualifying from security clearance and "... is not mitigated by reasons of personal convenience, safety, requirements of foreign law, or the identity of the foreign country" as is explicitly clarified in a Department of Defense policy memorandum which defines a guideline requiring that "... any clearance be denied or revoked unless the applicant surrenders the foreign pp or obtains official permission for its use from the appropriate agency of the United States Government". This guideline has been followed in administrative rulings by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) office of Industrial Security Clearance Review (ISCR), which decides cases involving security clearances for Contractor personnel doing classified work for all DoD components. In one such case, an administrative judge ruled that it is not clearly consistent with U.S. national interest to grant a request for a security clearance to an applicant who was a dual national of the U.S. and Ireland.