I underwent an extensive FBI investigation when I was 21 years old.

[MineralMan]

There was no crime involved. I was being background checked because I would be doing work in the USAF on stuff that was classified Top Secret. I had to fill out pages of forms, some of which asked for information I couldn't even remember.

Agents even went to my little California home town and interviewed neighbors, teachers, the pastor of my church, and people I hadn't even named on those forms. Even my high school girlfriend for two years got questioned. Years later, she told me that some of the questions were embarrassing. They inquired into my character, my behavior and my associations. When I returned home on leave, I discovered that I was a minor celebrity in that tiny community because of this. People thought I must be doing something really important to need that kind of background investigation. Not so, though. It was routinely done for people who would have a Top Secret clearance. Apparently I passed the check, since I ended up doing that kind of work.

But Brett Kavanaugh isn't being investigated like that. Why is that, I wonder? If a 21-year-old college dropout who enlisted in the USAF and got sent to a Russian language school got that kind of in-depth investigation, why not a potential Supreme Court Justice? Why isn't the FBI asking those questions of Kavanaugh's associates and acquaintances?

[forthemiddle]

1. He apparently has had 6 FBI background checks

But they are not made public, so we have no idea what’s in them.
Obviously this allegation never came up before.

[HipChick]

2. There are different types of background checks - I underwent a background check like MM

with a poly

the SC predator does not sound like he went through anything extensive..

[MineralMan]

4. Yes. A lot of background checks just look at public records.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Probably how mine happened...

I held a Confidential clearance with very limited access to the systems I worked on.

To my knowledge nothing like what happened to you occurred in my case. At least nobody told me.

You'd think that a job as important as SC Justice would have a BG check as extensive as you describe. Apparently not.

[MineralMan]

8. You'd think so. Weird.

I suppose I needed that level of clearance. I'm still prohibited from talking about my work in the USAF. So, I don't. My enlistment ended in 1969, so all of that was 50 years ago now.

[Wounded Bear]

10. I got out in '77...

the systems I worked on were being phased out at the time for newer technology.

I don't talk much about it, and certainly not specifics. But then, nobody really wants to hear nerds discuss technical shit. Even today's nerds get that "WTF you talking about look" when I go into vacuum tubes and shit.

[MineralMan]

13. Well, that's true enough.

I didn't have anything to do with technical hardware, except to stare at it a lot.

[Cold War Spook]

46. Unless your records have been declassified,

it is illegal to even state what clearance you have or had. I joined the Army Security Agency May, 1963 - May, 1967. First boot camp Ft. Dix NJ. Next came language school for Russian at the Defense Language Institute. From that point on all of my records have been flagged. Most likely the same goes for you. If you are interested you can find out if your records are still flagged, contact the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, headquarters department of the USAF. You needed a high clearance since all branches of the military worked for the same agency and worked with special intelligence. Being in the USAF, with a little digging, you can find out why we attacked Grenada even though you were out by then. The hint is USAF.

[MineralMan]

54. The Language school and clearance status (up to a point)

are right on my DD Form 214, as is the travel restriction, with a reference to the authority for it.

I know exactly why I needed the clearance. That I don't mention.

I'm not all that worried about any of it, really.

I still have my transcript for the college credits I got at the language school at Syracuse University, too.

Nobody cares about my security clearance any more.

[dchill]

20. It seems apparent that rich white Republican males...

Don't have to go through a lot of red tape for ANY job in government. How else would they get there?

[MineralMan]

3. Apparently they didn't ask the right questions, then.

It's time to revisit the background investigation, I think.

[MrsCoffee]

7. "Obviously this allegation never came up before."

Obvious to who?

If we have no idea what's in them how in the fuck is it obvious?

[Eliot Rosewater]

12. He is a gambling addict prick tied to the same criminals rump is

Fuck him and anyone who would make excuses for him

Or who knows what type of addict he is, given we arent allowed to see most of his background

[bitterross]

6. Just Thinking Out Loud

The FBI probably knows there is very little chance a political appointee like Kavanaugh will be disqualified for anything other than the most heinous of crimes. Given this administration I'm not even sure what is considered "heinous" anymore.

So, my thought is they don't do the type of check on political appointees they did for you. They don't waste the time.

[Hortensis]

9. No. A SCOTUS appointee can be disqualified by even

a whiff of impropriety. In this era, with an intensely corrupted GOP and Republican electorate, it's different for them. But not for us, either as senators investigating or as nominees.

In any case, it's the FBI's decision to decide not to bother. That'd be right up there with trying to throw elections to one party or another.

[bitterross]

14. I think you meant "A Democratic SCOTUS appointee..."

The rules are clearly different for the Republicans.

[Hortensis]

62. :) Boy, are the rules different. I meant "SHOULD be

disqualified by even a whiff." If only.

But I left out a word about the FBI. My thought was that it's not their place to decide to ignore what they feel needs to be investigated because the Republicans would try to bury it.

My husband had a top-secret clearance investigation, and it was similar to MM's, including agents on the ground interviewing people associated with us. It turned up a years-old bill I'd refused to pay because of some good reason or other, and had long forgotten about, but we were required to pay it so the Kremlin wouldn't use it to make us an offer we couldn't refuse, or something. The company had no record of it by then either, but the new owner agreed to accept payment when we explained the situation.

[at140]

11. I was checked by DOE security as well

because I was working on a project with classified information. Filled out tons of forms, with info about every one of my relatives, my travels outside the country, etc. And my neighbors were questioned about my living habits. And they have my finger prints.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. My older brother held some kind of security clearance at various points in his working life.

Once he made some offhand comment to the effect that of course I'd been visited by the FBI during the course of getting those clearances. Nope. Never was. And I would have been exceptionally easy to find, given that he would have known my address and phone number and presumably gave those to the FBI. Not to mention "Oglethorpe" isn't a very common last name and "Poindexter Oglethorpe" is even more unusual. Not my real name, but my real name is not a common one.

That always made me wonder, especially couple with stories like yours, of a thoroughness that amounts to overkill, just how competent the FBI actually is.

I also do not know just what level of clearance my brother had, and I'm sure that makes a difference in how thoroughly someone is checked out.

[MineralMan]

16. Well, in my case, it was long enough ago that there was still

a "Red Scare" philosophy out there in the FBI and associated agencies. That was back in the mid 1960s. Back then, apparently, there were "Commies" hiding behind every door or something. So, they dug deeply into the pasts of people who would be doing high-security jobs, I guess.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

18. My brother was getting his clearances starting in the early 70s.

Not at all recent. I know just enough about security to know there are different levels, and a different background investigation is made for each. But what startled me so much was his assumption that of course I'd be questioned by the FBI.

One time when I was planning a trip with a tour group to the Soviet Union (this was 1976) he pitched a fit, saying I was endangering his job. I told him that if they were that concerned about his sister making such a trip, he ought to rethink his career choice. Since I was apparently a complete non-person to the FBI, there was no repercussion to him for my visit to the Evil Empire.

[MineralMan]

26. Really, they weren't concerned about family members

traveling. It was more relationships that bothered them. Still, depending on what you were up to officially, there could be worries about some relative getting grabbed by the KGB and pressure being applied to you over that.

There are still countries I'm not allowed to travel to. I don't know how much that's enforced, but the travel restrictions I had did not have an expiration date. Some of the countries on the list don't even exist any longer. Still, I have no plans to travel to any of the restricted places, anyhow.

A lot of restrictions and stuff like that were overstated and excessive. But they just did it on a blanket basis, depending on the type of work and access you had. It was all "by the book."

[justhanginon]

23. That's about the same time frame as me. I was in the National Guard

on active duty and was supposed to go to crypto school at, as I remember, Fort Dix, N.J. and needed a top secret clearance. We were released shortly before I was to report for school and it all got canceled. When I returned to my old job some were asking what was going on. The F.B.I had evidently been there checking me out.
Fun times.

[dameatball]

17. I never had the background check but I was "interviewed" by an FBI agent at my job once (70's)

I had taken a year off from college, worked 1-1/2 jobs to earn money to go back my junior year. Day job was at a service station. This car pulls up and the guy introduces himself and shows his badge. I was freaking out, thinking there was some sort of mistaken identity thing going on. It turned out that he wanted to ask me questions about a kid I grew up with. Went to Boy Scouts with him, school, etc.
We grew up in the same neighborhood but I had literally not seen him in years. Had no idea of his whereabouts.
How they ever got my name is still a mystery and I don't know what happened after that. But believe me, if those guys want to find someone they leave no stone unturned. They are completely thorough.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

19. Not necessarily.

See my post #15 above.

[dameatball]

21. I saw it. Apples and oranges. This was an agent trying to find someone, not a background check.

My point was how hard they had to have been digging to even find me. I understand what your point was, just a different circumstance.

[MineralMan]

38. Yes, that's a very different sort of investigation.

Probably, in your case, someone else mentioned you in relationship to the person being investigated as a former "associate."

[dameatball]

47. I believe that is correct.

[MineralMan]

24. That guy put your name on the form.

They wanted as many names as you could provide, really. So, he gave them yours.

[dameatball]

27. I doubt it. They wanted to know his whearabouts. No way it was about a job. People in the

neighborhood knew to avoid his house. Most kids of high school age or older know what is going on and who you don't want to associate with. That's why I had not seen him in years. Later on I heard from my mom that he had committed suicide. Strange story.

[SeattleVet]

61. I had the same type of clearance and investigation as you...

for TS/SCI Codeword information. I gave them 5 or 6 names/addresses for references...and the agents of that 'national agency' that conducted the investigation asked each of those for an additional 5 or 6 people that also knew me.

They didn't ask a lot of questions of the people that I had used as references, but they did ask a LOT of questions of those people that were given by my references. (Of course I'll give you the names of the people that liked me! Fortunately, the people on that second level also had seen mostly my good side <g>.)

Probably the hardest form I ever filled out was when I needed an additional little upgrade to the clearance and access levels when I got assigned to the 3943rd ESS at Fort Meade. I had to try to remember every dorm room and building number that I had lived in for the previous 9 years since joining the USAF.

[MineralMan]

63. Yup, It's hard to remember all that stuff.

I finished my enlistment at Ft. Meade. Worked in the building for about six months.

[FakeNoose]

22. These are valid questions and it makes me wonder!

Nobody in my family ever worked for Uncle Sam, but my brother's friend once applied for a job in the CIA. (Or maybe it was the FBI, I can't remember.) Anyway investigators came to see my mom and asked about the young man who often visited our house and hung out with my brother in their high school days. As far as any of us knew, there was no reason he should be disqualified. But that's how thorough the government is in employee background checks.

[MineralMan]

25. Yes, they're pretty thorough.

[Wellstone ruled]

29. Did a three year stint working for a

Defense sub contract machine shop. At the time,we had several components for the portable missile rocket engines. And yes,had to have a similiar FBI background check. They were very through,must have been interesting when they went back to interview people in my Hometown.. Most thought I was dead or living in a foreign country. Funny.

Understand the reason for the extensive background was my handling of Foreign and certain domestic shipping documents as well as export permits.

[MineralMan]

30. "Who?" I imagine they get that question sometimes

when they ask about someone.

On the form, they asked for addresses and telephone numbers of the people you named as possible references. Since this happened when I was still in Basic Training, I had no way to look up anyone, so I filled the form out as best I could. I did remember the name, address and phone number of the guy who owned the pool hall in my home town. I doubt that he knew me, even though I went in there once in a while to get a cherry Coke at the soda fountain.

Putting him down was almost desperation, since I wanted to fill out the form completely. Well, he was one of the people the FBI talked to. Fortunately, he knew my father very well, so he could somehow relate to questions, since my father and I share the same name. For all I know, he answered the questions about me as though I was my father. He drank a bit, that guy.

Still, they didn't just talk to the people whose names I supplied. They branched out from there. I named a couple of my favorite teachers, but they interviewed all of the teachers whose classes I had taken in High School. I'm sure they heard some stories about the elaborate pranks I played while in High School, too. I was famous for them.

Still, it was a small town, and I'm sure nobody had anything really negative to tell them. Anyhow, I got the clearance, went to the language school and did the work that led to the investigation, so I guess I passed.

[Wellstone ruled]

35. Well,as you,I grew up in a Tiny Town.

And as you know,you have one Friend and everyone else are just aquaintance's. My Friend was the person I listed and he lived four miles north of town,farm kid like me. As luck would have,he was a Field Agent for the Department of Agriculture and did crop surveys for Wisconsin.

Knew he had been backgrounded because of the sensitive nature of his reports which would or could move the Commodities Markets in major ways if any of his reporting documents were ever released by him or anyone in his family.

Interesting thing,our Eldest was a newly hired TSA agent at the same time. He to had a full background earlier that summer.

Funny thing was,my Mother In Law though we were on our way to the Crow Bar Hotel. She totally forgot her son was Army Intell and she had been through this before.

[HipChick]

40. In my case, FBI got hold of phone numbers I didn't even provide them

Majority of my family live overseas and I was educated in the UK, I can only assume that they got hold of phone records...I got phone calls from folks asking me if I was in trouble..

[MineralMan]

44. That's what I figured, too.

I did the best I could in filling out the form, and figured they wouldn't have any trouble finding anyone.

[Totally Tunsie]

31. I had a similar situation when I was hired by a defense contractor in CA.

Had to fill out very extensive paperwork, asking questions regarding every phase of my life. During the time of the actual background check, I - along with all other new hires - sat in a barren airplane hangar outfitted with only folding tables and chairs for however long it took for the clearance to be approved. This period was known as "Deep Freeze", during which we reported daily as if for work and we received our full pay for virtually doing nothing. We were allowed to bring books and talk among ourselves, and were escorted to the cafeteria in a supervised group. In my case, clearance took four months due to the fact that my family's far removed background extended into Poland. The day a clearance comes through is as exciting as a graduation.

I heard from friends, neighbors, and former teachers in my hometown, 3,000 mile away, that the investigators had interviewed them all, and also went to others in the neighborhood who I did not know and did not name. The reason for these interviews was not disclosed to them, so it was a concern for many that I had somehow gotten myself into a federal mess. I had just married, moved across the country, and was just settling in. They were relieved when I gave them the explanation.

About 8 months later, I was again informed that I was being re-investigated, which was unknown even to me. It turned out I was being granted a higher clearance for a new assignment - Top Secret Special Access Required - and further information was necessary.

It was an interesting process to be sure. I'd certainly expect that this level of scrutiny would be applied to anyone being considered to be in charge of the major offices of our country. It still stuns me that the President, VP and members of Congress aren't required to have security clearances and undergo this type of investigation. They can do more damage to this country in an hour than I could in a lifetime.

[MineralMan]

32. Yes, it's odd that the average Joe or Joan has to get such a thorough

check, but high officials seem to get a pass. That never made any sense to me. I will say that some of the stuff I worked with was genuinely classified at the maximum level. For me, though, it was just the job I was doing. Heck, even I wasn't that interested in it.

However, my ethical compass would never allow me to disclose anything I wasn't supposed to, especially if the information or work did not harm anyone. In that case, I wouldn't have done the work.

[Snake Plissken]

33. When I was screened for my security clearance

After I passed, I was told I could have a copy of the report if I formally requested it, they had places I lived and cars I owned from back when I was in college that I completely forgot about, also old credit cards that I also completely forgot I had.

there is no way Kavanaugh with his gambling habit would have been able to pass it

[MineralMan]

36. Yes. I got to review my report, too, to check for errors, I guess.

I was pretty amazed at how much stuff was in there. Since I was only 21, and had been in school most of my life, I hadn't really had time to get in much trouble. Still, the depth of the inquiries surprised me. Later, when people told me about the questions they had been asked, I learned even more. My former HS girlfriend told me that they got into a lot of detail about even sexual matters. She said the whole thing was really embarrassing. I understood why, too. She wasn't pissed off about it, but had been embarrassed to talk about it to strangers.

[orleans]

34. fbi came knocking on my door

asking about a girl who grew up a few houses down from me. (her parents still lived there.)

i said i really didn't know her--i was friends with her older sister when we were kids. and back then this girl was probably between 3-5 yrs old when my friend & i would play with the younger sisters.

they STILL wanted to know what i remembered about her and what she was like.

i said she was this nice, little delicate girl -- she was adorable.

LOL~ i hope that helped!

[MineralMan]

37. It makes you wonder what they expect to discover, really.

[DFW]

39. My brother got the treatment, too

He does top secret stuff for DARPA and other DoD agencies. His wife even had to give up her citizenship (Japanese) and become an American citizen because people who do what he does are not allowed to be married to foreigners (as if that made her any less Japanese!!). For some reason, they never got around to speaking to me, but they probably had everything they could have wanted to know about me already. (Speaks Russian, German, French, Spanish, few others, is in a different country every day, I guess they probably figured out that I didn't work in the men's wear department at Nieman Marcus).

The worst part was forcing my sister-in-law to ditch her Japanese citizenship. She was angry as hell. Even their sons didn't have to give up their Japanese citizenship, just her.

[MineralMan]

41. Yes, that restriction against being married to a non-citizen.

I remember that. It didn't apply to me, of course, since I was single throughout that period. My only international assignment was in Turkey, and I never met any women there at all.

[DFW]

45. I've never been to Turkey

But I knew quite a few students from Turkey when I was at college, and there some quite fine women among them.

[MineralMan]

48. I was stationed there for 15 months, right on the Black Sea.

It wasn't a great idea to try to flirt with Turkish women if you were an American in the Air Force. Nope. So, that was 15 months out of my life without women. The base personnel were also all men at the time. It was considered a remote post. It all took a little getting used to, I recall.

Somehow I survived, though.

[DFW]

49. Fifteen months?

After that, I would have been hornier than a hoot owl.

[MineralMan]

50. Well, most of the guys had the situation well in hand, I guess.

So to speak. As it were. Or whatever.

[DFW]

59. "Greater love hath no man....."

As the saying goes.......

[HipChick]

42. I had to let go a team member, because he would not give up

his non-american GF...when he had to get his re investigation...

[DFW]

43. Such a stupid regulation

American citizens can be turned, and both the FBI and the DIA know that. Besides, he had been doing secret stuff on location in Japan for two years (where he met and was already involved with his future wife), so they had plenty of time to check her out.

[ancianita]

51. If you still have TO Secret clearance, ask the FBI yourself. They can help more than we can.

[MineralMan]

52. I'm not actually asking for any help.

I've had no need for the clearance since 1969, nor has it affected my life in any real way since thing.

[ancianita]

53. I meant help in getting answers to your questions. Ask the FBI directly. They're good

questions, and the public deserves answers to them. Your past makes you an excellent citizen to do that on their behalf. Particularly when Trump's "best people" method is to present his obstructions of justice as political battle in the court of public opinion.

[MineralMan]

55. No, actually, I couldn't get any answers to any of those questions.

I can ask them, though, here on DU. They're rhetorical in nature, anyhow.

[ancianita]

56. I see. Sorry I took your meaning literally. We get a lot of that here. But these deserve FBI answers

[MineralMan]

57. Well, those answers are not going to be forthcoming.

Answers to such questions never are, it seems.

[ancianita]

58. That might once have been true, but now is a time when such questions need asking and answering.

[Initech]

60. Because the powers that be don't care.

They want what is best for them and only them, and they'll get it if they have to burn the country down to get it.