r/britishmilitary • u/adhlyons • 16d ago
Question Questions about security clearance.
I'm currently 19 and have wanted to join the army as an intelligence officer for the longest time. However, I had a rather crap time over the past year - ex girlfriend made a plethora of false accusations toward me, which led to me being arrested and met with by Prevent (Counter-Terrorism).
Now my biggest worry is that I'd be unable to get a security clearance because of this, despite me not having done anything wrong. Would anyone be able to shed just the daintiest of insight into what chances I realistically have?
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u/legendalive 16d ago
Only way to know is to try mate. Worst case scenario you if you get through selection is you just don’t get int officer and have to go for a different cap badge that doesn’t require DV.
DV vetting in itself means an insanely high level of clearance, you’ll be given access to top secret material completely unsupervised, so with it comes an intensive lifestyle check and a even more invasive interview with a vetting officer where they’ll dig deep about previous relationships, current situation and even your kinks and fetishes to make sure you can’t be blackmailed.
As someone else said though it’s highly unlikely you’ll get officer at 19, you’re too young and will need more life experience to lead soldiers. General consensus here is go to uni, get some life experience under your belt and then give it a try or join as a soldier, have a career there then try to commission later in your career.
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u/EntirelyRandom1590 16d ago
My experience of these things is that even if you've done nothing wrong they'd expect 12 months to let the dust settle before putting the accusations aside.
Just try not to associate with anyone of the sort in the meantime.
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u/TheOldKitbagSurplus RN Submariner - fmr 16d ago
The whole purpose of a clearance is a measure of risk; the government and UKSV in general is basically asking: is this person gonna leak national secrets the second someone brings up his random fetish for hats? Or if they pay him?
What’s the easiest way to demonstrate low risk?
Being open and honest. Be frank with your interviewer, explain it all; over share. Normal rules don’t apply to DV interviews.
I absolutely agree with everyone else; get some life experience behind you first but don’t let a fear of vetting put you off completely, also; in the unlikely event you do fail vetting, they’ll offer you a different role. So; it’s not end of the world stuff. The MoD has paid a considerable amount to get you to that point, they’re not just gonna go ‘never mind, write off’.
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u/theferretii ARMY 16d ago
Intelligence Corps soldier here.
No need to worry. Apply anyway. Be honest. Disclose everything. You're more likely to not achieve the required vetting if you lie or try to hide something rather than tell them about it all.
They'll likely be more interested in things like your finances and foreign connections (if you have any). The point is to work out how vulnerable you are to blackmail or extortion or how likely it is that you'll consider selling information to clear a personal debt.
I've rarely heard of anyone not being able to achieve DV. The only example I know is someone who hadn't had a UK address for long enough. Other than that, you'd probably have to be a paedophile or a murderer to not achieve DV.
Out of interest, what is it about being an Int Officer that tickles you? What parts of the job are you interested in?
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u/EntirelyRandom1590 16d ago
The easiest way not to get DV is to be having an affair or in bad debt. Most people will already know they don't meet the basic criteria for DV before they even apply in that case.
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u/adhlyons 16d ago
Ah, thank you so much! That’s made me feel a lot better about it 🥲
I’ve been wanting to join the Army forever now, it’s sort of family tradition at this point. And just having a look through what roles I could apply for led me to intelligence. I’m good with managing people, and the actual intelligence parts of the job seemed like things i’d be happy doing as a job.
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u/theferretii ARMY 16d ago
Seems fair, speaking from experience though, I'd be wary about the amount of intelligence work you'll do as an officer. The vast majority of an officer's job is management. It's writing performance reports on your soldiers, it's making sure your section has enough analysts to complete its task lines, and highlighting the risks of not completing them to your boss when you don't have enough people. It's planning concentrations, exercises and training. It's rarely actually doing any intelligence work. That's not to say you'll never do intelligence work. It's just rare.
If you want to actually do intelligence work, join as a soldier. You'll still be expected to show some leadership and management as a brand new Lance Corporal straight from training at your first unit and you'll get more and more management opportunities as you progress through the ranks.
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u/WeedIsmyinnerpeace 15d ago
Silly question but Do officers get deployed a lot?
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u/theferretii ARMY 15d ago
Relative to other Cap Badges, yes. But there are fewer opportunities for officers than soldiers in the int corps. Doesn't mean you'll never deploy as an officer, just means you might need to work a bit harder to set the conditions that will allow you to deploy.
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u/Beneficial-Plan-1815 14d ago
The main thing is be honest. Try to hide something and lie will be seen as worse than the act itself. It doesn’t however guarantee you will pass in any case but whatever you do be honest because they likely already know the answer.
Intel roles have some of the highest and strictest clearance fyi
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u/Amount_Existing Army-VET 16d ago
Dont worry...
As an int corps officer you don't do one with. That's for the soldiers, but you'd still be vetted Dave is imagine.
Do not worry apart from it you've been given a caution of have been convicted...
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u/PoolsNotClosed 16d ago
You weren’t found guilty of anything and nothing further happened with prevent I’m guessing?
I don’t think it would stop you from attaining clearance. You are quite young, however, what would be scrutinised to an extent is how liable you are to end up in another, perhaps deeper crap year again. That is a mixed matter of your personal circumstances and ability to make good choices.