I work for a contractor for the federal government. Though I don't have (or need) a security clearance, my job puts me in close proximity to some pretty high-power folks, (including a former President). Because of all of that, I had to have an FBI background check before they hired me. I filled out a ton of paperwork, listed some personal references and a pretty detailed life history. Several friends and a few co-workers called or emailed me to "thank" me for the long questionaires they got about me. Beyond that, I really didn't think much about it.StewNTexas wrote:Back in the 60's, I was in the USMC, and for Top Secret/White House clearance 'somebody' went back as far as my first grade teacher. From what I could tell, they checked school records for every other year through junior high, every year of high school, and every part time job I ever had. All scout leaders, every coach and every church affilation.
I have walked through the White House a number of times with a 1911 strapped on.
Then the govt. got me a diplomatic passport at their expense. Used it about fifteen times, and it was kept in the C.O.'s office in his safe. A few years after I got out, I applied for a passport of my own. There was no record of my ever having gotten one.
You can never tell who does the checking, or how far back they go.
Then about a year later, my next door neighbors kid was accepted in to one of the military special forces. We got a visit from a pretty serious looking guy representing the FBI (he wasn't an agent, apparently they job this out to contractors). He asked a bunch of questions, took a bunch of notes, and went away. A couple days later, I mentioned the visit to the kid's mother. She said "Yeah, we got a similar visit about you last year".
Since the job references and personal references specifically mentioned possible questionaires, it never occurred to me that they would do unannounced visits on my background check, especially since there was no clearance involved. I found out they visited everyone on my block, several houses each way.