Security Clearance Careers Podcast

The Military Officer Association of America (MOAA) is the nation's largest and most influential association of military officers. It is an independent, nonprofit, politically nonpartisan organization. They are a great partner of ClearanceJobs in acting as a resource for our military community. MOAA's Senior Director, Career Transition and Member Services, Col. Brian D. Anderson, USAF (Ret), joins the podcast to chat about the power of networking as you are navigating your military (including spouses) transition. 

Ana Montes spied on behalf of communist Cuba for 17 years. A new book by former FBI agent Peter Lapp discusses how Montes was able to carry out as a dangerous insider for nearly two decades, and his own career journey with the FBI. In our interview, we discuss how the book outlines loyalties “from both sides of the equation,” and what took one person down a path to protecting and defending America’s interest, and how another chose to betray her country. Montes was recently released from prison, making it a timely discussion as those in national security continue to study what makes an insider.

For this episode of the Security Clearance Careers Podcast, we discuss a pretty common topic amongst government work: continuing resolutions. Operations for federal agencies are funded annually, but when appropriation bills are not passed by the start of the October 1 FY start, Congress uses a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government for the short-term. Continuing resolutions are interim stopgaps, usually enacted to avoid a government shutdown.More recently, the United States Senate pushed forward a bill that funds the government through a continuing resolution and will make sure that the DoD can continue working, and just as important during the holiday season, that service members will continue to get a paycheck.This is the second time this year that we have avoided a government shutdown, but this has started to become a pattern over the last decade. Continuing resolutions may be short-term good news, but this repetition has some major implications and impact service members, civilian workers, and their families.

Middle-aged adults are binge-drinking and using weed at record levels according to the New York Times, in a recent study. What is the catalyst here? Are people just burned out and over it? If people are hitting the bottle and turning to marijuana as a means to escape life, or if being stuck at home during COVID led people to start exploring other recreational hobbies, all of these trends can affect your security clearance if you partake.

The newest jobs report reveals veteran unemployment rate was 2.9% last month, down from 3.6% in September. November is Military Families Month, so for this episode of the Security Clearance Careers Podcast we discuss recruiting, hiring, and workplace issues for veterans – everything from upskilling and reskilling, to how some interviewers overlook valuable assets and experiences veterans bring to the table.Kathleen Quinn Votaw is the CEO of TalenTrust, a strategic recruiting and human capital consulting firm. Quinn Votaw is the author of two books, DARE to CARE IN THE WORKPLACE: A Guide to the New Way We Work, and Solve the People Puzzle: How High-Growth Companies Attract & Retain Top Talent.Regarded as a key disruptor in her industry, she has helped thousands of companies across multiple industries develop purpose-based, inclusive communities that inspire employees to come to work. Veterans, like many other populations, look for certain cues that a company is going to be military friendly. When it comes to recruiting them to your organization, retaining them, and how recruiters can reach veteran talent before the next company, that requires a certain finesse, as well.

Are you in tune with the 13 adjudicative guidelines? Your national security job and your eligibility for maintaining a security clearance depends on them. Lindy Kyzer and Sean Bigley discuss the education and guidance that is critical for providing information to applicants and maintaining the cleared workforce.

In the inaugural episode of a four-part podcast series with the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency, ClearanceJobs speaks with Sandy Radesky. The Associate Director of Vulnerability Management at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) delves into the world of cybersecurity and the vital role CISA plays in safeguarding the nation's critical infrastructure.

It’s Military Families Month so for this episode of the Security Clearance Careers podcast we discuss a portion of our audience within the defense community: reservists. The term “military” refers to the military community, defined as the individuals serving as active duty, reserve, guard, veterans, or military spouses. Military friendly employers have a commitment, effort, and success in creating sustainable benefits or employment options for the military community.Some of the biggest military friendly employers are Boeing, Raytheon Technologies, Naval Nuclear Laboratory, and Aerojet Rocketdyne, to name a few.But reservists are unique in their own way. And our guest today is hoping employers take it a bit further and become not only military friendly, but really reservist friendly.10 years ago, DC native US Army Reserve Captain Eric Evans enlisted in the Army National Guard, a decision that would change the course of his life and inspire a remarkable journey of support for fellow National Guard and Reserve Soldiers. Being in the Guard, Evans saw big obstacles, especially when it came time to tell his employer of his commitment to attend Army Basic Combat Training. Evans was then strategically forced out of work with this employer – as deployments, drills, and other training required time off from his civilian job, informing them of training led to his dismissal.But this negative experience isn’t the overarching theme of this story.

Lindy Kyzer and Sean Bigley discuss ageism in the security clearance process. This is a real issue for people, particularly for drug cases in the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA), in that they should have known better. Is there gray hair discrimination in the Pentagon? Tune in to this episode to learn more.