Just got added to the register. Is it possible to get an invitation to the discord server? Thanks!
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Are there any current agents on here that can speak to working in DSS while maintaining a commitment with the national guard or reserves? To what extent is your career at state affected? if you're guard, have you been able to conduct all required training at one time? Have you maintained a reserve obligation while posted overseas? Is it feasible and worth the cons I guess is what i'm trying to find out? Thanks,
36thID
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I am not a current agent, but I did get a chance to intern in an RSO office in Europe a few years ago. One of the agents there maintained his annual duty obligation while there. Monthly duty is probably out of the question, but knocking it out all at once seemed to work for him. But he was in the reserves. I am not sure how each individual state would treat these circumstances for those in the guard.
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The Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) program is available to Reserve Soldiers. It’s designed to offer more flexibility IOT work around civilian careers. So you would be able to knock out a “good year” in one month as opposed to the standard one weekend a month, 2 weeks a year obligation. That’s the route I’ll take if I get this job.
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I’ve been managing a DS and reserve career for more than a decade. In short, it can be done but it is challenging. Every person’s situation is different so I won’t say one way or another if staying in the reserve/guard is best for your DS and/or military career or not. I have plenty of classmates and colleagues who chose to get out of the military so they could focus on their DS career. Conversely, I have plenty of DS colleagues who chose to stay in the military and have been very successful, to include an agent who is a 1-star on the reserve side.
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On the bright side, I received my security clearance!
Updated timeline:
Initial application- Oct 2018
Notified moved to QEP- January 2019
Notified moved to OA- April 2019
Passed OA- September 2019
Medical granted- December 2019
Security granted- March 2020
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I get emails from State on the first of every month with an update on my status. Today, it stated that I received my security clearance. I know my BI conducted a follow up interview with a contact March 12th. So it happened sometime between then and today.
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I am in the same boat as you Tayan. I looked at my email yesterday and was surprised when it said that I received my clearance on March 10th. I had not received any other email indicating this. I am sure that the time it takes for the suitability board to review and clear is going to be longer than usual. With FLETC classes sounding like they are on hold, it sounds like we have some more waiting ahead of us.
Updated timeline:
Initial application- Oct 2018
Passed OA- August 2019
Medical granted- October 2019
Security granted- March 2020
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This article is relevant to all FSO’s FSS’s and generalists that were recently given offers of employment by State.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/26...ficer-classes/
My timeline:
Initial application: 10/18
Passed O/A: 9/19
Received Medical Clearance: 10/19
Met with Background Investigator: 12/19
Security Clearance: Standing byLast edited by 10Vet; 04-01-2020, 07:41 PM.
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If you are interested in learning more about what a current DSS SA does, check out Cody Perron's book "Agents Unknown - True Stories of Life as a DSS Special Agent".
Find his "Agents Unknown" Facebook page and "@agentsunknown" on Instagram. He's doing a series of videos where he answers questions and describes the work of DSS SAs.
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To apply do we have to keep checking the website? I clicked on the link and it says The DS Agent job vacancy announcement is not currently active. I assume you just have to wait for this link to open back up?
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Yeah I was "getting that sense" as I didnt see it mentioned in the job description. I would say it's not common knowledge that DSS is a foreign service or that a foreign service moves you around. Not interested in moving every 2-3 years as I've done that enough in the military. Thanks for the info.
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From the November 2019 opening, at the bottom of the Responsibilities section and under the Travel Required section:
"Domestic SA duties can entail long hours and extended periods of travel, including overseas travel."
"Applicants must be willing and able to travel extensively, and on short notice, throughout the world using whatever means available."
"A SA generally may spend more than half of his/her career assigned to our overseas missions."
Here: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/550110300
In regards to the openings, they are at least 12 months apart (per DOS). They were 15 months apart between the 2015-2016 openings and 22 months apart between the 2016-2018 openings, and I think 13-14 months between 2018-2019.
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Edit: I didn't see Co0311's similar post - it appears we were typing at the same time, but I'm going to go ahead and leave mine here too.
---Original Reply----
Strange - when I read the most recent vacancy announcement from 2019 (link below), the living and working abroad and domestic assignment vs overseas assignments are mentioned about 6 different times throughout the announcement. And within this forum that spans 1000s of posts ongoing for the better part of two decades, the overseas aspects are very well documented. This is why I was surprised to see that question but I took the time to answer anyway. But, and I mean this in the nicest, least offensive way possible, (I'm not here to flame you or to pick an Internet argument with any potential applicants) DSS is part of the Department of State, so I disagree when you say it isn't common knowledge that DSS is foreign service which requires frequent moves around the world, and domestically.
https://careers.state.gov/work/forei...special-agent/
Good luck to you finding a civil service position with another agency.
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Thanks for that info. I'll admit, I'm kind of burnt out reading threads after threads and job posting after job posting. I did skim the DSS website and I just checked a couple pages. I'll be honest I've only been in the civil side and know just about jack sheet when it comes to Department of State. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my ridiculous question (no sarcasm). When I'm seriously interested in a job, I do read all of the threads on here. Just wasn't ready to undertake the 756 pages on this thread which I'm sure is packed with good info. Thanks, I'm done with the DEA process and just waiting on a location and academy date.
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Originally posted by DSS-SA View PostIf you are interested in learning more about what a current DSS SA does, check out Cody Perron's book "Agents Unknown - True Stories of Life as a DSS Special Agent".
Find his "Agents Unknown" Facebook page and "@agentsunknown" on Instagram. He's doing a series of videos where he answers questions and describes the work of DSS SAs.
Waiting to see if I made it to BEX.
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I'll one up you, has anyone put any thought into how this backlog of people waiting for class is going to work? It seems to me that it's really not a good time to be on the register right now due to losing time.
36thID
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Caveat: this is pure speculation I am not in any way involved with how DSS and DHS (FLETC) will try to "catch up.
First off, I think the Register expiration will be extended, if necessary. DSS doesn't have a ton of classes every year, but when we were flush with PATRIOT Act money and doubled our agency's size in the late '90s, there were 3-4 active BSAC classes running concurrently for about 12-18 months. They'll likely shuffle classes through the FSI Specialist Orientation, FLETC portion, and DSS portion as they can. It gets a little disjointed, as some agents will do their orientation in the middle of their training, some will do it at the end. Some will do three weeks of DSS training, go to FLETCH, then come back and finish the DSS portion...
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I “theorize” State will go from 24 to 48 per class to offset the training time lost this FY20 cycle due to coronavirus situation. My blind 0.02.
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Originally posted by Tayan235 View PostI hope you’re right. I hope they get a few more people through clearances and PRE before they send those invites out. I’ve seen clearances and SRP moving alone, but haven’t heard of anyone taking the PRE recently.
I received occasional emails from DS at the beginning at the month but it's been radio silence since the stay-at-home orders kicked in. Do y'all know if the hiring process is still ongoing or everything completely frozen?
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Yes, PRE is physical readiness exam. SRP is the Suitability Review Process. These occur once clearance is received. The only thing I’m tracking that’s frozen is training for all State new hires. As far as the hiring process, I’m not sure what elements of it are still ongoing. I would “assume” background investigations and SRP’s are still being conducted though.
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Just sent an email yesterday to check on the current status for the November 2019 posting and this was the response.
“Due to COVID19, we are unable to provide any updates as to who will and will not be invited to the assessments. Once we are back in the office, we will need to confirm that all who moved forward to QEP were paneled and once confirmed, then we will be drawing the cut score and notifying applicants if they will or will not be invited to the assessments. We ask that applicants remain patient during this unprecedented time.
Thank you for your interest in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
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