Skip to content
CASE

What is this clearance document?

A directory of the forms and notices that appear in a security clearance case. Search by form number or by a phrase from the page in front of you. Each entry says what the document is, whether it is something you normally see, and where the description comes from.

Many of these are routine processing notices between agencies rather than decisions about you. For the correspondence in a contested case (the interrogatory, the Statement of Reasons, the hearing notice, the decision and the appeal) see correspondence in a DOHA case, which covers those in more depth.

Stage

All stagesQuestionnaires and releases

Where it applies

EverywhereGovernment-widePublic trust and suitability

Showing 4 of 45 documents.

Questionnaires and releases

The forms that start an investigation and the permissions that let it proceed.

Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions

SF 85

You normally see or sign this.

What it is
The short questionnaire for non-sensitive federal positions. It is not a clearance form, and its questions and look-back periods are materially narrower than the SF 86.
What you do
Complete and submit it. Do not assume an SF 86 answer carries over; the windows differ between the forms.
Also called
SF-85, SF85, non-sensitive questionnaire

Full entry for SF 85

Source: OPM — Federal Investigation Forms. Listed by form number and title on OPM’s federal investigation forms page.

Questionnaire for Public Trust Positions

SF 85P

You normally see or sign this.

What it is
The questionnaire for public trust positions. It sits between the SF 85 and the SF 86 in scope, and it supports a suitability or fitness decision rather than a national security eligibility decision.
What you do
Complete and submit it. Section numbers do not correspond to the SF 86, so guidance written for the SF 86 will not map cleanly onto it.
Also called
SF-85P, SF85P, public trust questionnaire

Full entry for SF 85P

Source: OPM — Federal Investigation Forms. Listed by form number and title on OPM’s federal investigation forms page.

Declaration for Federal Employment

OF 306

You normally see or sign this.

What it is
An employment-suitability declaration used in federal hiring. It is a separate form from the clearance questionnaires and asks its own questions on its own timescales.
What you do
Complete it for the hiring action. Answers here are compared against the questionnaire, so inconsistencies between the two are worth resolving before submission.
Also called
OF-306, OF306, declaration for federal employment

Full entry for OF 306

Source: DCSA — Terms and Definitions. DCSA lists OF 306 as the Declaration for Federal Employment.

How the process worksDocuments arrive in a published order. The stages below follow that order, from the first questionnaire to a request for your own records.

A contested case follows a published path: a Statement of Reasons, the government's written list of its concerns (an SOR), a written answer, a hearing or a decision on the written record, the judge's decision, and in some cases an appeal.

Read the stages of a DOHA case · Ask a question about the process

Each entry was checked against the issuing agency's own published source, and documents that could not be verified against an official source are deliberately not listed. Descriptive research on published procedures. Not legal advice, and not a prediction about any pending case.

Where to go from here

I do this for clients

Rank every decision by how closely it matches a matter, see how the assigned judge has ruled, and keep it together with cited exports.

For attorneys and firms →

I am researching or teaching

Statistics, exports, monitoring, and the API, arranged individually. For scholarship and public interest work that usually means no charge.

Request access →

Decided public cases: descriptive, never a prediction.