SF-86 Anxiety: Understanding What's Private and What Isn't

Security Clearance Careers Podcast

Your life is much more exciting to you than it generally is to the government. Hence many people are unnecessarily concerned that the contents of their SF-86 will somehow end up as fodder for water cooler talk or will somehow be a source of office gossip. The reality is that information included on the SF-86 is covered by the Privacy Act - that means what you include can not be broadly shared.

"For the vast majority of us who has held a security clearance, nobody really cares," said security clearance attorney Sean Bigley. The details of what is and isn't provided on an SF-86 generally comes to light when an individual is a public figure - like Jared Kushner. Or when your career tanks and you find yourself under criminal allegations - like the Department of Energy's Sam Brinton. But as much as we may want to speculate around what is or isn't included, you won't find your SF-86 details published in the media - although they are certainly free to speculate and criticize public figures.

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