Security Clearance Careers Podcast

The military gives you an identity whether you want one or not: your rank, your uniform, your ribbon rack. When you take off the uniform, all of that disappears overnight.

In this episode of Security Clearance Insecurity on Federal News Network, Lindy Kyzer of ClearanceJobs talks with Army veteran Brian McGovern. McGovern spent nearly 12 years on active duty as a paralegal specialist and public affairs specialist, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and left the Army as a staff sergeant. He is the author of Who Am I Now: An NCO’s Guide to Life, Work, and Identity After Military Service, a book less about landing your first civilian job and more about figuring out who you are before you decide what you want to do.

Brian explains:

• Why your transition should start on day one, and why that isn’t disloyalty
• Why trading your rank for a CAC card and a badge reel can work as a “shock absorber” that postpones your identity shift instead of completing it
• What happens to an NCO’s sense of purpose when the 2 a.m. phone calls stop
• Money mistakes that follow service members out, from 27% APR car loans to underestimating civilian cost of living, and why Guideline F makes financial health a career issue
• Why your family is transitioning too, and the honest question every household should ask: whose turn is it to sacrifice?
• How he found his people after leaving the Army, as an introvert, by showing up consistently over time

If you’re six months from getting out, Brian’s advice is simple: read chapter four.

Get Who Am I Now here.

Have a question or a topic you’d like covered? Email [email protected].

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From NFL veterans and military transitions to artificial intelligence and quantum technology, ClearanceJobs Connect San Antonio is bringing some big conversations to Texas.

Cleared recruiting isn't your average talent acquisition gig. Between navigating security clearance requirements, shifting government contracts, evolving technologies, and an increasingly competitive talent market, recruiters supporting national security have a unique set of challenges. And sometimes, the best way to tackle those challenges is to get everyone in the same room. On November 5, ClearanceJobs Connect San Antonio will bring together cleared recruiting professionals, industry leaders, and subject matter experts at the InterContinental San Antonio Riverwalk for a full day of conversations about what's happening in our industry and where we're headed next. From finding purpose after military service to navigating AI in recruiting, here's a look at some of the conversations we're especially excited about.

Conference: 8am-3pm https://about.clearancejobs.com/employers/events/clearancejobs-connect-san-antonio

Career fair: 3pm-6pm https://about.clearancejobs.com/candidates/career-events/san-antonio-in-person

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lindy Kyzer of ClearanceJobs talks with Scott Cooper, a retired Marine who leads policy at With Honor, about veterans in Congress and what they get done when they work across party lines. Scott explains how With Honor started as an effort to elect more veterans to Congress. Today it supports the For Country Caucus, a bipartisan group of more than 50 House and Senate members he calls “radical moderates.” He describes the caucus’s role in passing the Russia Sanctions Act and the friendships behind its work.

Lindy and Scott also cover:

• With Honor’s 13-month congressional fellowship, which gives mid-career professionals Hill experience. Veterans and military spouses get preference, but anyone can apply.
• The civil-military divide, and why it matters that veterans make up a larger share of Congress than of the general population
• Why security clearance reform has strong support from both parties, and how Congress shapes clearance policy through the NDAA and the Intelligence Authorization Act
• Scott’s book recommendation, Courage Can Save Us, and the Winslow Homer painting that reminds him that service doesn’t end when you take off the uniform

Learn more about With Honor: https://withhonor.org/

Have a topic that you'd like to cover? Send your questions to [email protected].

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Military spouses are no strangers to change. Between permanent change of station (PCS) moves, deployments, unpredictable schedules, and the constant balancing act of military family life, building a successful career can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. But those same experiences can also create some of the most adaptable, resilient, and resourceful professionals in the workforce.

On this episode of the Security Clearance Careers Podcast, we're joined by Rae Mueller, who supports strategic accounts for Point Solutions Group, a ClearanceJobs brand, to discuss navigating a career as a military spouse, building professional relationships, and finding opportunities in the national security industry.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it take to build a career spanning nearly four decades inside the CIA? And what can today’s cleared professionals learn from someone who has experienced the intelligence mission from just about every angle? On this episode of the Security Clearance Careers Podcast, we sit down with retired CIA officer Susan Miller to talk about the people, skills, and career paths behind the Intelligence Community.

Miller spent nearly 40 years at the CIA, building a career that included HUMINT, counterintelligence, overseas assignments, leadership positions, and serving as a Chief of Station. But like many intelligence professionals, her path into the field may not look exactly like what aspiring IC employees expect.

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When we talk about leaving the military, we tend to talk about the checklist.

Build a resume. Translate your MOS. Start networking. Apply for jobs. Figure out SkillBridge. Prepare for interviews. And, if you’re part of the cleared community, try not to let that security clearance collect dust while you figure out what comes next.

Those things matter. But they’re also only one piece, because landing a civilian job and successfully transitioning into civilian life are not necessarily the same thing.

On a recent episode of the Security Clearance Careers Podcast, I sat down with Emily King Grandinetta, a behavioral scientist, Master Certified Coach, organizational consultant, military transition expert, and author of At Ease: The Guide to a Smooth & Successful Military Transition, to talk about what happens beyond the resume and job offer.

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Trusted Workforce 2.0 has changed how the government vets its people. The old model of periodic reinvestigation, which was basically "set it and forget it," has given way to continuous vetting. Adjudicators now have to reassess risk as each new alert comes in. The policy is in place, but agencies are still working out how to carry it out day to day.

In this episode of ClearedCast, Lindy Kyzer talks with Aarti Smith, CEO of Chainbridge Solutions, about the "continuous vetting gap," the space between getting a Continuous Vetting Action Report (CVAR) and managing it well at scale. They cover:

• Why a single CVAR rarely tells the full story, and why the whole-person concept still matters
• How DCSA's move toward DISS as a shared services hub helps, and why API integrations are the next step
• The manual work that still slows agencies down: roster management, enrollment, and alerts for people affiliated with more than one agency
• What happens when public trust and suitability populations are added under Trusted Workforce 2.0
• What a modern personnel security system needs: automated triage, risk weighting, dashboards, and integrations with HR, identity management, and insider threat systems
• What applied AI can and can't do in adjudication (it supports the decision-maker but doesn't replace them)
• Why the applicant experience matters as much as the security team's, and how applicant portals help

If you work in personnel security, adjudication, or federal HR, this episode is a practical look at where continuous vetting stands now and what agencies should tackle first.

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