The 5 Automatic Disqualifiers for Security Clearances

No official list of five automatic disqualifiers exists. This comparison covers lack of U.S. citizenship and the Bond Amendment's four statutory restrictions in 50 U.S.C. 3343. Only one has no waiver and covers every clearance: being an unlawful drug user or addict. The other three apply only to SCI, SAP or Restricted Data access, and a waiver is possible.

The five, side by side

Here is each item with its exact wording, who it covers and whether a waiver exists. The statute is 50 U.S.C. 3343. SEAD 4 Appendix B is how the executive branch applies it.

The statute covers federal employees, active-duty and active-status members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, and employees of federal contractors. SEAD 4 then extends the Bond restrictions to everyone who needs eligibility for classified access or a sensitive position.

The fourth Bond restriction concerns mental incompetence. The statute ties it to an adjudicating authority acting on an evaluation by a qualified mental health professional approved by the government. SEAD 4 narrows it further to a formal competency declaration by a court or agency with jurisdiction.

Current drug use or addiction: the bar with no waiver

This is the only item that is automatic in the plain sense. SEAD 4 says agency heads "are prohibited from granting or renewing national security eligibility" for an unlawful user of a controlled substance or an addict. It adds that "a meritorious waiver may not be authorized" for this prohibition.

If a pending case involves a current user or addict, SEAD 4 says the prohibition "must be applied." The individual then gets the agency's established administrative review procedures.

The definitions come from federal law. A "controlled substance" is anything defined in 21 U.S.C. 802, so state legalization doesn't remove a drug from the list. An "addict" is someone who habitually uses narcotic drugs so as to endanger public morals, health, safety or welfare, or who has lost the power of self-control over the addiction.

The wording is present tense: someone who "is" an unlawful user. Past use is a different question, handled under Guideline H, which the section on judgment calls below covers.

The SCI, SAP and Restricted Data disqualifiers and meritorious waivers

The other three Bond items reach a narrower set of access. The statute applies them to clearances that provide access to special access programs, Restricted Data, or "any other information commonly referred to as 'sensitive compartmented information.'" SEAD 4 repeats the limit: these provisions "apply only to those covered individuals seeking access" to SCI, SAP or RD.

So a person with a dishonorable discharge isn't barred by the Bond Amendment from a Secret or collateral Top Secret clearance. The underlying conduct is still weighed under the adjudicative guidelines. But the statutory disqualifier itself attaches only when SCI, SAP or RD access is in play. For how TS and SCI separate, see TS/SCI, decoded.

A felony conviction alone does not automatically bar a security clearance. The incarceration item has three parts, and all three must be true. There is a conviction, a sentence of more than one year, and at least one year actually served on that sentence. A felony with probation, or a long sentence suspended, doesn't meet the statutory text.

How a meritorious waiver works

SEAD 4 lays out the procedure. When one of these three disqualifiers exists, the adjudicator still runs the full adjudication using the guidelines' mitigating conditions. If the adjudicator "would have arrived at a favorable decision but for the Bond Amendment disqualification, a meritorious waiver may be appropriate."

A granted waiver is recorded as an "Exception" and annotated "Waiver," with a detailed written justification. If a waiver isn't appropriate, SCI, SAP or RD access is denied or revoked with a written explanation citing the guidelines and the disqualifier.

Agencies must track every waiver and every Bond disqualification. By February 1, an agency must report if it employs or employed someone granted a waiver during the preceding year. The report goes to the appropriate congressional committees. It lists each disqualifying factor and the waiver reasons without identifying the person.

Can a non-U.S. citizen get a security clearance?

No. Executive Order 12968 Section 3.1(b) generally limits eligibility to U.S. citizens. The order contains exceptions in Sections 2.6 and 3.3. Read it in the notes to 50 U.S.C. 3161. Citizenship is a threshold requirement, not one of the Bond Amendment's four.

Section 2.6 allows "limited access" for immigrant alien and foreign national employees with special expertise, where there are compelling mission reasons. Access can't exceed what the government has deemed releasable to the person's country of citizenship, and the prior 10 years of the person's life must be investigable.

For contractors, 32 CFR 117.10(k) calls this a Limited Access Authorization (LAA). It is for "rare circumstances" where a non-citizen has urgently needed skills and no cleared or clearable U.S. citizen is readily available. An LAA isn't valid for Top Secret, RD or FRD, COMSEC, intelligence information, or information not releasable to the person's country, and NATO access needs separate approval. Non-citizens also can't receive temporary eligibility.

How job access requirements affect eligibility

The split between "all eligibility" and "SCI, SAP or RD only" shows up directly in job requirements. In ClearMatch's scan of 125,020 ATS postings from 1,270 employers, October 25 to November 8, 2026, 60,605 required Secret or higher.

The three SCI-level rows total 18,687 postings, about 31% of the Secret-or-higher set. These postings explicitly require SCI. Some Secret and TS postings may also require SAP or Restricted Data access, which we do not count separately. The drug prohibition applies to all 60,605.

A Secret requisition doesn't take the three disqualifiers off the table, either. SEAD 4 requires adjudicators to identify and record them in every national security adjudication. That way a later SCI, SAP or RD access request receives the required re-adjudication and waiver review.

This is one two-week scan's mix, not the whole market, and it predicts nothing about any individual's case. You can filter cleared jobs by clearance tier, and recruiters can point candidates to the exact tier on the requisition.

What isn't automatic: debt, foreign ties, past drug use and more

None of the following appear in 50 U.S.C. 3343. Each is weighed under SEAD 4's guidelines and the whole-person concept, which we cover in the 13 adjudicative guidelines in plain English.

• Debt, collections and bankruptcy (Guideline F)
• Foreign relatives, friends or property (Guideline B)
• Dual citizenship (Guideline C)
• Past drug use, including marijuana (Guideline H)
• Psychological conditions that may impair judgment, reliability or trustworthiness (Guideline I)
• Arrests and convictions that don't meet the Bond incarceration test (Guideline J)

Seeking mental health counseling alone cannot support a negative inference. The Bond Amendment itself requires the guidelines to bar any negative inference "solely on the basis of seeking mental health counseling."

For dual citizenship, SEAD 4 lists as a mitigating condition that it "is based solely on parental citizenship or birth in a foreign country, and there is no evidence of foreign preference."

On marijuana, ODNI's December 21, 2021 guidance says prior recreational use "may be relevant to adjudications but not determinative." Relevant mitigation includes frequency of use and showing future use is unlikely, including by signing an attestation. Agencies are encouraged to tell applicants to stop any use once they sign the SF-86 certification.

The same memo flags CBD products: those above 0.3% THC still meet the federal definition of marijuana. Direct investment in marijuana growers or retailers can raise a Guideline E concern, while a diversified, publicly traded mutual fund should not be treated as relevant.

How common is it to be denied a security clearance?

The FY2017 report we cite doesn't establish a current nationwide denial rate. That Annual Report on Security Clearance Determinations, from ODNI's National Counterintelligence and Security Center, reports initial-case denial rates of 0.0% to 5.9% across ten unnamed intelligence community agencies. Revocation rates ran from 0.0% to 2.3%.

The report explains why the spread is wide. Some agencies stop processing for "automatic disqualifiers found during a suitability for federal employment review" before a case reaches clearance adjudication, so those cases aren't counted as denials. Others adjudicate everything, which produces higher denial rates. These figures cover IC agencies in one fiscal year, not DoD or contractor adjudications generally.

Who decides, and at what point

An authorized adjudicative agency decides, not the employer, the FSO or the recruiter. EO 12968 calls eligibility "a discretionary security decision" by trained adjudicative personnel. Eligibility is granted only where it is "clearly consistent with the national security interests," and "any doubt shall be resolved in favor of the national security."

For contractor employees, 32 CFR 117.10 places that determination with the cognizant security agency. The process starts with the SF-86, moves through the investigation tier the position requires, and ends in adjudication. The Bond checks happen inside that adjudication, at initial eligibility and at renewal.

An unfavorable result isn't the end of the record. SEAD 4 requires a written explanation for a Bond-based denial or revocation, and agencies follow their review procedures. For contractors that usually begins with a Statement of Reasons.

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Sources: SEAD 4: National Security Adjudicative Guidelines, 50 U.S.C. 3343: Security clearances; limitations, 50 U.S.C. 3161 and Executive Order 12968, ODNI Clarifying Guidance Concerning Marijuana (Dec. 2021), NCSC FY2017 Annual Report on Security Clearance Determinations, 32 CFR 117.10 (govinfo). Policy is set by the government, so confirm anything that affects your own case with your FSO, security office or the official sources above.