Know what your clearance
actually means.
Understand clearance levels, eligibility, current access, SCI, polygraph screening, and Public Trust. Then verify what you can responsibly claim before using it in a civilian job search.
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This tool does not verify eligibility or access. DCSA directs individuals to their Security Management Office or Facility Security Officer for current information. The job posting and employing organization control the required level and processing path.
Role lanes come from current U.S. Intelligence Community and DIA career-field pages. A specific posting may require a different level, additional access, citizenship, location, or specialized experience.
Build a civilian plan from your whole record.
Blueprint combines your specialty, day-to-day work, leadership scope, goals, location, timing, and verified clearance context to prioritize civilian role lanes and next actions.
Start my free Blueprint previewEligibility, access, and screening are different.
Civilian job postings often compress several security concepts into one line. Use the posting as the requirement, then verify your own record with an authorized security office before describing it as current.
| Term | What it means | What it does not mean |
|---|---|---|
| Clearance eligibility | A determination that a person may be eligible for access at the Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret level. | It does not create access to every classified program or guarantee employment. |
| Current access | Job-based access tied to a position, required level, need to know, and employing organization. | Prior access does not prove that access is current in a new role. |
| SCI | Sensitive Compartmented Information has additional controls and separate eligibility or access requirements. | SCI is not a fourth clearance level. Top Secret remains the clearance level. |
| Polygraph | An additional screening requirement used for some positions, programs, or agencies. | A CI or full scope polygraph is not a separate clearance level. |
| Public Trust | A suitability or fitness determination for certain federal or contractor positions. | Public Trust is not a national security clearance. |
Clearance matters only where the role requires it.
Official Intelligence Community career pages show cleared work across more than intelligence analysis. Start with your occupational fit, then check the required clearance field in each announcement.
Intelligence and collection
All-source, geospatial, signals, counterintelligence, collection management, and mission analysis.
Cyber, IT, and data
Cybersecurity, network engineering, systems administration, software, cloud, data science, and technical support.
Engineering and STEM
Systems engineering, physical sciences, research, testing, technical exploitation, and operations research.
Programs and acquisition
Program management, contracting, procurement, resource planning, and mission-support operations.
Security and investigations
Personnel, information, physical, industrial, counterintelligence, and insider-threat support.
Logistics and mission support
Supply, maintenance, transportation, facilities, administration, and operational support where access is required.
Match the clearance to the work.
Use verified clearance context and one occupational family to generate grounded role lanes, fit evidence, verification steps, and responsible resume wording.
Open the Job Fit Checker → Understand the hiring logicRead the clearance job-search field report.
See why a clearance can narrow the postings without replacing occupational fit, credentials, or evidence of the work.
Read the field report →Official guidance behind this page.
- DCSA Trust Decision FAQs: job-based clearance requirements, SCI, employer initiation, current-status contacts, and Continuous Evaluation.
- DCSA Facility Security Officer FAQs: the three clearance levels, need to know, transfer, and the separation between hiring and clearance processing.
- DCSA Continuous Vetting guidance, April 22, 2026: five-year questionnaire updates for covered industry personnel under Continuous Vetting.
- OPM suitability guidance: Public Trust, suitability, fitness, and national security determinations are distinct.
- USAJOBS clearance-filter guidance: how to locate the requirement in federal job announcements.
- U.S. Intelligence Community career fields and DIA Information Technology careers: current cleared occupational lanes.