Help: Want to work at DOJ but lied during background check for previous job Forum

[Anonymous User]

In short, I was an idiot and lied on my SF86 to get a federal government job. I wrote that I had never used marijuana before despite having smoked occasionally in school. To make matters worse, I was later interviewed personally and doubled down on my lie when the investigator asked if I had ever used marijuana. Somehow, they never found out during my background check and I kept that job until I left to go to law school.

Now I'm in law school and I've decided that I really want to work for the DOJ. Oops. I have not smoked since my junior year of a college, but that's still within the last seven years so I would have to disclose it if I applied to a DOJ job. Though that in itself may not make me an auto-ding, I'm worried that they would compare my form to the one I filled out for my previous job and see that I failed to come clean the first time. On the other hand, if I wrote "no" again, I think there's a small but significant chance they would find out. Although I wasn't a regular smoker, a lot of my sorority sisters were and one of them might let it slip if you called enough of them. Also, my roommate freshman year knew I smoked and I don't know whether or not she would tell them I did if they called her.

I don't know what to do. I really, really want to work for the DOJ, but I know that having this problem surface during a background check would torpedo my chances of ever passing the bar, let alone working for the government in any capacity. Is there any way I can speak to someone at OPM or something about this anonymously?

[El Pollito]

I mean first get an offer from the DOJ, but lol so dumb.

[Mack.Hambleton]

They really call random people to ask if you have ever smoked weed? Lmao if true

[carmensandiego]

Someone is a badass over here with their pot smoking during UG. Watch out, Feds.

[TLSModBot]

Oh shit with that kind of record now you'll never get to be a Supreme Court Justice in the 1980's

[Anonymous User]

0L here. I don't have to stop smoking weed, do I?

[Hand]

0L here. I don't have to stop smoking weed, do I?

If you want to work at the DOJ, you better stop asap.

[carmensandiego]

0L here. I don't have to stop smoking weed, do I?

If you want to work at the DOJ, you better stop asap.

I would just stop in general. Some/a lot of jobs during law school drug test too. A guy who went to my school tried to get a judicial externship at the courthouse, didn't know that they drug tested, and failed the drug test. He felt like a moron and is now known for being that dbag who can't pass a simple drug test. Don't be that guy.

[wwwcol]

If you call the hotline, what exactly do you think they'll say? You lied on a sworn federal form and then doubled down on that lie in the interview. You're not going to work for DOJ. Sure, you could try to maintain the lie but if DOJ finds out (and there's s decent chance they will if they conduct the full background check), your legal career is over. If you disclose the marijuana use, they'll come across the lie when they compare your most recent application to the old SF/86. Rejection.

Not really anything helpful for OP, but for others coming across this thread, the moral of the story is always be honest on the SF/85 or 86. Few components give a shit whether you smoked weed (unless it was within the past year, in which case you should stop smoking and wait a year before applying). But they will always care if you're being dishonest with them.

[Nebby]

OP. They only ask about drug use in the previous 12 months, not 7 years. You're good.

[Nebby]

They really call random people to ask if you have ever smoked weed? Lmao if true

They don't.

[wwwcol]

They really call random people to ask if you have ever smoked weed? Lmao if true

They don't.

OP. They only ask about drug use in the previous 12 months, not 7 years. You're good.

I should have mentioned my earlier post assumes OP wants a post-grad job with DOJ, not just an internship. The background check process is more thorough for post-grad jobs.

[robotrick]

Not saying this is a good idea, but if it were me I would just apply again and continue the lie. I seem to be generally more willing to take those kinds of risks than most others on this forum, though.

[Traynor Brah]

lol

[Nebby]

They really call random people to ask if you have ever smoked weed? Lmao if true

They don't.

OP. They only ask about drug use in the previous 12 months, not 7 years. You're good.

I should have mentioned my earlier post assumes OP wants a post-grad job with DOJ, not just an internship. The background check process is more thorough for post-grad jobs.

OP can still pass the background check. OP isn't going to attach an addendum to the SF85 that says, "BTW I lied on a previous 85 a few years ago."

The only scenario where I envision the personnel investigator discovers the lie is if the investigator: (1) finds someone other than OP, (2) who knows about the SF85 lie, and (3) tells the investigator.

[A. Nony Mouse]

OP. They only ask about drug use in the previous 12 months, not 7 years. You're good.

At least some components ask about the past 7 years (for both internships and permanent positions) - it depends on whether you're doing the national security background or not (which I'm pretty sure is the SF 86), which a lot of components require.

And they do send people to speak to your references (previous employers/roommates/people you've known in the various places you've lived), at least for permanent jobs (my understanding is they don't usually do the interviews for an internship, although you fill out the same form as for permanent positions). I think they usually only speak to people you've listed on your application, but I don't know that there's anything limiting them from speaking to others.

So it's theoretically possible they'd interview a past roommate and ask them about the OP's drug use. If that person says the OP used to smoke and the OP says they never smoked, there's a discrepancy.

[Nebby]

I'm going to go on a limb and say that the likelihood of such a scenario is nil, though theoretically possible.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I'm going to go on a limb and say that the likelihood of such a scenario is nil, though theoretically possible.

It's probably unlikely, but I wouldn't say nil. Besides, banking on it not happening means that the OP is stuck continuing to lie. Up to the OP how comfortable she is with that, of course.

OP, if you wait until it's been 7+ years since you last smoked, then you won't have to answer yes on the application. It's not common to get a DOJ gig right out of school anyway.

[TheSpanishMain]

They really call random people to ask if you have ever smoked weed? Lmao if true

They don't.

If you're going for a job that requires a security clearance, it's very possible. If it's a TS clearance, then yes, they absolutely will.

Most things won't sink you if you disclose, but lying to an investigator is basically an autofail.

[Catsinthebag]

At the end of the day, I'd say best bet is do what an above poster said and wait 'til it's 7 years since the last time you puffed those j's.

Then again, intuition would say you could disclose on the new form and, in the event they come to you like, "wtf re: previous form?!", you could explain that before law school, you didn't understand the gravity of the disclosure (i.e., I was young, stupid, didn't get what it meant to lie to the feds), and now that you are in law school and a learned member of society, you of course opted for full disclosure. You'd want to note that, back then, you also didn't know that ignorance of the law was not a defense.

I'd work elsewhere for a while and set a countdown clock to 7 years from the last toke, though.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW, when I filled out the form for my permanent gig, it was auto-populated with the answers from when I'd interned during law school. So obviously you change answers (in that older stuff drops off/newer stuff gets added), but the old answers are in their system.

[Anonymous User]

They really call random people to ask if you have ever smoked weed? Lmao if true

They don't.

Wait, do you actually know that? I know for a fact that you'd be wrong if this was about Foreign Service (as well as some other government) jobs - what's your source for it not applying to DOJ?

A few years ago my best friend passed the oral exam for the Foreign Service, and as part of his background check a state department agent "interviewed" me for over half an hour over the phone about my friend - and then stopped by my office the next day since he said he had to meet me in person, which basically just involved a handshake and him flashing his badge and seeing my driver's license.

Anyway, I was asked if I was aware whether my friend had a history of alcohol or substance abuse, and whether he had ever used illegal drugs, including marijuana. I was also asked for the names of any foreigners he was close with (they also asked me for contact information of his other friends), what their backgrounds were, if there was any reason I thought he would not be loyal to the US government, how long I had known him, etc.

Not sure DOJ follows the same process - Nebby claims to know otherwise - but just letting you know my experience with being a "reference."

[Anonymous User]

They really call random people to ask if you have ever smoked weed? Lmao if true

They don't.

Wait, do you actually know that? I know for a fact that you'd be wrong if this was about Foreign Service (as well as some other government) jobs - what's your source for it not applying to DOJ?

A few years ago my best friend passed the oral exam for the Foreign Service, and as part of his background check a state department agent "interviewed" me for over half an hour over the phone about my friend - and then stopped by my office the next day since he said he had to meet me in person, which basically just involved a handshake and him flashing his badge and seeing my driver's license.

Anyway, I was asked if I was aware whether my friend had a history of alcohol or substance abuse, and whether he had ever used illegal drugs, including marijuana. I was also asked for the names of any foreigners he was close with (they also asked me for contact information of his other friends), what their backgrounds were, if there was any reason I thought he would not be loyal to the US government, how long I had known him, etc.

Not sure DOJ follows the same process - Nebby claims to know otherwise - but just letting you know my experience with being a "reference."

Nebby's wrong. Many DOJ components do the same kind of thing. (One of my friends was grilled about my ties to China, for some reason, and I've never even been there.)

[BigZuck]

You guys need to keep in mind that Nebby's tagline is (idiot and waste of oxygen).

I don't know what is or might be different about DOJ lawyer applications but I've personally been asked about a friend's drug use when that friend was applying for a job requiring a security clearance. Again, I don't know what kind of investigation they do for these types of jobs but for at least some types of government jobs the investigators definitely do ask about that stuff.

[Anonymous User]

0L here. I don't have to stop smoking weed, do I?

If you want to work at the DOJ, you better stop asap.

I would just stop in general. Some/a lot of jobs during law school drug test too. A guy who went to my school tried to get a judicial externship at the courthouse, didn't know that they drug tested, and failed the drug test. He felt like a moron and is now known for being that dbag who can't pass a simple drug test. Don't be that guy.

If I didn't smoke weed I'd have left law school forever ago. Just don't be an idiot. Make sure to find out if any of your employment prospects drug test, and then stop doing drugs for the appropriate amount of time.