Which defense prime is the easiest to get hired at in 2026?

There is no "easiest" prime; there is the prime that best matches your portfolio. Lockheed and Northrop have the largest cleared SWE and mission-systems hiring; RTX has the deepest missile / radar engineering pipeline; BAE has the densest EW and signals-processing roles; GDIT is the largest IC contractor footprint; L3Harris is the leader in tactical comms and SIGINT; Boeing Defense, Space & Security has the most aero / mechanical engineering openings. Pick the cluster that matches your last two roles, not the prime with the most open requisitions.

Do I need a security clearance to work at a defense prime?

Not for every role, but for most engineering and program-management roles, yes. Most primes hire some uncleared candidates into clearance-eligible roles and sponsor the investigation; the timeline is 6 to 12 months from offer to read-on under current DCSA backlogs. If you are not US-citizen-and-clearance-eligible, you are limited to commercial-only divisions (Boeing Commercial, RTX Collins commercial avionics, L3Harris commercial comms).

What is the salary difference between a defense prime and a frontier-tech defense employer?

At the senior IC level, frontier-tech employers (Anduril, Palantir, Scale AI, Shield AI) pay 40 to 100% more in total compensation than the primes. The gap is largest at the L6 / Staff Engineer equivalent and above, driven primarily by equity. Cleared SWE forward-deployed engineers at Palantir routinely exceed $400K total comp, vs roughly $220K to $260K at the primes for equivalent scope. Cash-base difference is smaller; equity is the lever.

How do I move from Boeing Defense, Space & Security to Lockheed, Northrop, or RTX?

Translate the program: KC-46 maps to RTX (refueling tanker contract competitor portfolio), F-15EX maps to Lockheed F-35 / F-22 portfolio, MQ-25 maps to Northrop autonomous systems portfolio. Keep the AS9100 / NADCAP / ITAR keywords, add MIL-STD-810 / MIL-STD-461 framing, and lead with the cleared line if you hold one. The Boeing BDS Supply Chain Layoff Recovery playbook covers the SPEEA / IAM 751 recall rights and clearance-preservation specifics.

Does Workday at the primes parse PDF or DOCX better?

PDF, with one caveat: the PDF must be text-extractable, not an image scan. Workday's parser handles standard PDF cleanly across all seven primes; DOCX parses correctly but is more sensitive to header / footer placement and embedded tables. Avoid two-column layouts, embedded images, and any non-standard font; use Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica at 10 to 11pt body.

Can I list inactive clearance on a defense resume?

Yes if you are within the 24-month DCSA reinstatement window. Format: "TS/SCI, last active 2024-08, eligible for reinstatement under DCSA Continuous Vetting". Past 24 months you usually need a fresh Tier 3 or Tier 5 investigation; lead with the level you previously held and the sponsoring agency, since sponsors who already invested in your investigation are typically willing to re-sponsor.

Are FFRDCs (MITRE, Aerospace Corp, JHU APL) better than primes for cleared engineers?

Different value proposition. FFRDCs pay below frontier-tech but well above prime baseline, run a researcher-friendly portfolio, and have lower billable-hour expectations than primes. The mission alignment is the draw: MITRE engineers work the hardest unclassified-and-classified problems for the DoD and IC sponsors directly. If you want classified scientific work, FFRDCs are often a better fit than primes.

What ATS do RTX, Lockheed, Northrop, and Boeing all use?

All four run Workday for external applications in 2026. Internal mobility tools differ (RTX uses Workday plus a legacy SAP front-end for some divisions; Lockheed has internal Tableau-driven mobility tooling). For external applications, optimizing one resume for Workday's parsing rules covers all four primes; the keyword density is what differs by prime.

How does the 2026 DoD budget affect hiring at the primes?

The DoD FY26 budget is at a multi-year high in nominal terms, with continued growth in space, missile defense, and unmanned systems. Lockheed Space, Northrop Space Systems, RTX I&S, and L3Harris space are all hiring against multi-year program backlogs. Aero structures (F-35, B-21, KC-46) is the most stable; missile defense (THAAD, PAC-3, NGI) is the fastest-growing. Boeing BDS is the exception, with the Jan 12 2026 Supply Chain reduction signaling near-term contraction.

Should I apply to a prime through their direct site or through a job board?

Direct site, every time. The Workday instance on each prime's career site (lockheedmartinjobs.com, careers.northropgrumman.com, careers.rtx.com, jobs.boeing.com) writes directly into the prime's internal ATS database. LinkedIn Easy Apply and Indeed redirects sometimes drop the cleared-line metadata or fail to associate your application with the right requisition. The 2-minute extra effort of applying direct is worth a meaningfully higher recruiter-reach rate.

Defense & Aerospace Hiring, Updated May 2026

Defense & Aerospace Careers: The 2026 Prime-by-Prime Resume Playbook

Two-thirds of US defense and aerospace firms report they cannot fill open cleared roles. The DoD FY26 budget is at a record high, the primes are hiring against multi-year program backlogs, and frontier defense employers (Anduril, Palantir) are paying 40 to 100% above the prime baseline. This guide is the prime-by-prime ATS map, the salary band per cluster, and the resume rules that get you through Workday at Lockheed, Northrop, RTX, BAE, GD, L3Harris, and Boeing.

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By the numbers (sourced)

67%
Share of US defense and aerospace firms reporting they cannot fill open cleared roles, per the AIA 2024 workforce study.
Source: Aerospace Industries Association Workforce Study
$119,131
Average annual base salary for cleared professionals across all clearance levels in 2025.
Source: ClearanceJobs 2025 Compensation Report
+$30,000
Average base-salary premium for an active TS/SCI with a full-scope polygraph compared to the Secret-only baseline.
Source: ClearanceJobs 2025 Compensation Report
VA, MD, CO
Top three US states for cleared compensation growth in the 2025 ClearanceJobs survey, anchored by DC metro and Colorado Springs / Denver.
Source: ClearanceJobs 2025 Compensation Report
~150-200 days
Median DCSA processing time for a Tier 5 (Top Secret) initial investigation as of 2025, the bottleneck that makes already-cleared candidates valuable.
Source: ODNI Annual Report on Security Clearance Determinations
Jan 12, 2026
Boeing Defense, Space & Security Supply Chain announcement that ~300 BDS workers would be cut, intensifying competition for the same cleared talent at Lockheed, Northrop, and RTX.
Source: Boeing investor communications, January 2026

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Why your defense or aerospace application is not converting

The US defense and aerospace labor market in 2026 has a paradox at its center: 67% of firms cannot fill open cleared roles, yet most cleared-eligible applicants get rejected before a recruiter sees the resume. The bottleneck is not your background. It is your resume's match against Workday and the prime-specific keyword profile. Every prime runs a different ATS configuration, a different program portfolio, and a different cleared mix.

If you write one resume and submit it to Lockheed, Northrop, RTX, BAE, GD, L3Harris, and Boeing, you will get filtered out of at least four of those seven. The keyword density that wins at Lockheed Skunk Works will read as off-target at Northrop Linthicum. The bullet structure that scores well at GDIT will get downranked at Anduril. This guide gives you the prime-by-prime profile so you can tailor the right version for each cluster.

The second compounding factor is the cleared-talent shortage itself. DCSA Tier 5 investigations now median 150 to 200 days, which means an already-cleared candidate is worth far more than an uncleared candidate with otherwise identical experience. If you hold an active or recently-active clearance, the most expensive line on your resume is the line that misstates your status. The third section below covers exactly how to write that line.

What changed in 2026: Boeing BDS, frontier-tech hiring, and DCSA backlog

Three forces collide in May 2026. First, Boeing's January 12 2026 BDS Supply Chain announcement put roughly 300 cleared workers into the market at the same time as competitor primes (Lockheed, Northrop, RTX) had open requisitions. Second, frontier-tech defense employers (Anduril, Palantir, Scale AI) are openly poaching cleared engineers at 40 to 100% premiums over prime baselines. Third, the DCSA Tier 5 backlog is at a multi-year high, which has raised the market value of already-cleared candidates relative to clearance-eligible-but-uncleared candidates. If you are cleared, the resume is leverage. If you are uncleared, your path is through a sponsoring prime and the timeline is realistic at 6 to 12 months from offer to read-on.

Source: Boeing investor communications, ClearanceJobs 2025, ODNI Annual Report

The seven defense primes compared (US-only, 2026)

Pick one or two clusters that match your background before you start applying. Recruiters at primes spot a generic resume in seconds, and a tailored Lockheed resume reads completely differently from a tailored RTX resume.

Prime	Heaviest Cleared Sites	ATS / Application Stack	Top Hiring Disciplines
Lockheed Martin	Skunk Works (Palmdale CA), F-35 (Fort Worth TX), Space (Sunnyvale CA, Denver CO), RMS (Moorestown NJ)	Workday	Aero structures, mission systems software, RF / radar, space systems, classified SAP engineering
Northrop Grumman	B-21 (Palmdale CA), Space (Redondo Beach CA, Dulles VA), Mission Systems (Linthicum MD)	Workday	Cleared SW, RF / EW, embedded firmware, space mission systems, ISR program engineering
RTX (Raytheon)	Missiles & Defense (Tucson AZ), Collins Aerospace (Cedar Rapids IA), I&S (Aurora CO, Dulles VA)	Workday	Missile / radar engineering, avionics, IC contractor SW, full-scope poly billets at Aurora
BAE Systems	Electronic Systems (Nashua NH, Manassas VA), Intelligence & Security (Hanover MD)	Workday	EW, signals processing, FPGA / embedded SW, electronic countermeasures
General Dynamics (GDIT, GDMS)	GDIT (Falls Church VA), Mission Systems (Scottsdale AZ, Pittsfield MA), Land Systems (Sterling Heights MI)	Workday (GD), Taleo (legacy GDIT)	Cleared SWE, AWS GovCloud / Azure Government, DevSecOps, IC mission analysis
L3Harris	Space & Airborne (Palm Bay FL, Salt Lake City UT), Communication Systems (Rochester NY)	Workday	Tactical comms, SIGINT, EW embedded SW, RF / antenna engineering
Boeing Defense, Space & Security	St. Louis MO (F-15EX, F/A-18), Mesa AZ (AH-64), Seattle WA (KC-46, P-8), Huntsville AL	Workday	Aero / mechanical, software / avionics, manufacturing engineering, supply chain (post Jan 2026 reduction)

Workday is the dominant ATS across primes; the parsing rules are uniform but the keyword lookups are prime-specific (program names, AS9100 vs MIL-STD framing, cleared-line placement). Always tailor the top half of the resume per prime.

Tailor for one prime, then run the variant against a second

The prime-by-prime matrix above is the map. Drop in a real Workday JD and we score how cleanly your resume parses for that specific prime, including the cleared-line placement that Workday actually reads.

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Salary bands by city and clearance (2026 medians)

Total compensation includes base + sign-on + cleared premium where applicable. Defense base is conservative; frontier-tech (Anduril, Palantir) and IC contractors (Booz Allen at Fort Meade) sit at the top of each band.

Region	Mid-Level (3 to 7 yrs) Total Comp	Senior (8 to 14 yrs) Total Comp	Notes
DC metro (DC / VA / MD)	$120,000 to $165,000	$170,000 to $240,000	TS/SCI + full-scope poly adds ~$30K. Booz Allen, MITRE, Leidos, GDIT, Northrop Linthicum anchor the cluster.
Denver / Colorado Springs CO	$115,000 to $155,000	$160,000 to $220,000	Lockheed Space, Northrop Space, RTX I&S Aurora. Top growth state per ClearanceJobs 2025.
Tucson AZ	$110,000 to $145,000	$150,000 to $200,000	RTX Missiles & Defense anchor; lower COL than DC but compressed bands above L4.
Huntsville AL	$110,000 to $145,000	$150,000 to $195,000	Boeing, Lockheed, Leidos, Northrop missile defense corridor. MDA / Redstone Arsenal pull.
Seattle / Puget Sound WA	$130,000 to $180,000	$185,000 to $250,000	Boeing Commercial + Defense, Anduril Pacific, frontier-tech salary pressure.
St. Louis MO	$105,000 to $140,000	$145,000 to $190,000	Boeing F-15EX / F/A-18 / MQ-25 anchor; lower COL drives strong real comp.
Palmdale / Antelope Valley CA	$130,000 to $175,000	$180,000 to $245,000	Lockheed Skunk Works, Northrop B-21. Highest concentration of classified aero engineering in US.
Frontier-tech (Anduril, Palantir, Scale AI)	$160,000 to $230,000	$240,000 to $400,000+	Cash + equity. Cleared SWE forward-deployed roles at Palantir routinely exceed L7 prime equivalents.

Bands are 2026 US medians from ClearanceJobs, Levels.fyi defense-tagged data, and public Anduril / Palantir job postings. Cleared premiums (Secret +$10K, TS/SCI +$15K to $20K, full-scope poly +$30K) stack on top of the band.

Five rules for a defense and aerospace resume that gets through Workday

Workday is the dominant ATS across all seven primes plus most integrators. These five rules cover 80% of the failure modes that filter cleared-eligible candidates out before a recruiter ever sees the resume.

Don't: Burying clearance status in a Skills section near the bottom of page 2.

Do: Place the cleared line in the resume header, format: "TS/SCI with Full-Scope Polygraph (current)" or "Secret, last active 2024-08, eligible for reinstatement under DCSA Continuous Vetting".

Why: Workday at every prime is configured to surface clearance-line keyword matches in the first scan. Recruiters set the clearance filter as a knock-out; if Workday cannot find the match in the first 200 characters of parsed text, you fail the filter even if you hold the clearance.

Don't: Listing program names, SCIF locations, compartments, or read-on caveats on a public resume.

Do: Use generic phrasing: "supported a classified DoD R&D program in a SCIF environment, focused on ISR signal processing".

Why: Naming a SAP or compartment is a reportable security incident under NSA Prepublication guidance and can cost the clearance. Recruiters know the rules and read between the lines; the right phrasing reads as cleared, not as withholding.

Don't: Generic engineering verbs ("worked on", "supported", "responsible for") without quantified outcomes.

Do: Lead with an action verb and end with a number. Example: "Reduced SIGINT pipeline end-to-end latency 38% and lifted unit-test coverage from 22% to 81% across the core analytic library".

Why: Defense recruiters are explicitly trained to look for the Result line in STAR-style bullets. A bullet without a number reads as duty-statement, which signals federal-civil-service or junior-IC experience even if your title says senior engineer.

Don't: Using only the AS9100 or only the MIL-STD framing across all primes.

Do: Match the prime: AS9100 + FAA framing for Boeing Commercial, RTX Collins, L3Harris airborne. MIL-STD-810 / MIL-STD-461 framing for Lockheed mission systems, Northrop, RTX Missiles & Defense, BAE.

Why: Workday at each prime ranks these standards differently. Listing AS9100 on a Lockheed Skunk Works application underweights you against MIL-STD-901 / 1474. Listing MIL-STD on a Boeing Commercial application looks misaligned. Use both when the role is ambiguous, lead with the right one for the prime.

Don't: One resume submitted across all primes with identical bullets.

Do: Tailor the top half (summary + first job's bullets + skills section) per prime cluster. Keep the bottom half consistent.

Why: The keyword density Workday uses to score the application is heaviest in the top 60% of the parsed text. Tailoring the top half gets you through the filter without rewriting the entire document for each application.

Your salary band is on the table. Is your resume earning the top of it?

TS/SCI plus full-scope poly is worth ~$30K. Frontier-tech can add 40 to 100% on top. We score whether your resume is positioning you for the top of the band or the middle.

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Before / after: a cleared software engineer bullet for Lockheed Skunk Works

Same accomplishment. The before version reads as generic cleared SWE; the after version is specifically tailored for Lockheed mission systems and Skunk Works keyword density.

Before

Worked as a software engineer on classified DoD programs at a defense contractor. Used C++ and Python for signal processing and supported the program through delivery.

After

Cleared software engineer (TS/SCI, current) on a classified DoD R&D program in a SCIF environment, ISR / SIGINT mission focus. Built C++ and Python signal-processing pipeline supporting national-level intelligence customers; reduced end-to-end latency 38%, lifted unit-test coverage 22% to 81%, and integrated MIL-STD-1553 telemetry across two platforms. Compliant with DoD 8140 IAT Level II baseline and DCSA Continuous Vetting.

The before version is missing every keyword Workday is scoring on. The after version drops in: TS/SCI cleared line, SCIF environment, ISR / SIGINT mission focus, national-level intelligence customers, MIL-STD-1553, DoD 8140 IAT Level II, DCSA Continuous Vetting. None of those are program names or compartments, so it is fully OPSEC-safe. It also adds two quantified outcomes (38% latency, test coverage delta) and one cross-platform integration claim, which is exactly the structure Lockheed mission-systems hiring managers are calibrated against.

Beyond the seven primes: integrators, FFRDCs, and frontier tech

The primes are the largest cleared employers, but they are not the highest-paying or fastest-growing. These four clusters often pay above the prime baseline and have shorter offer-to-start cycles.

IC consultancies and integrators (Booz Allen, Leidos, CACI, Peraton, ManTech, SAIC)

Booz Allen (McLean VA HQ), Leidos (Reston VA HQ), CACI / SAIC / Peraton / ManTech (Reston / Herndon VA)

Highest cleared headcount in the DC metro. Hire constantly for cleared SWE, cyber, AI / ML, data engineering, mission analysis. Full-scope poly common at Fort Meade and Bethesda accounts. Promotion velocity is faster than the primes.

FFRDCs (MITRE, Aerospace Corp, JHU APL, RAND)

MITRE (McLean VA, Bedford MA), Aerospace Corp (El Segundo CA), JHU APL (Laurel MD), RAND (Santa Monica CA, Pittsburgh PA, Arlington VA)

Federally Funded Research and Development Centers. Hire cleared systems engineers, researchers, and policy analysts. Comp is below frontier tech but well above prime baseline; mission alignment is the value proposition. JHU APL and Aerospace Corp run heavy classified portfolios.

Frontier-tech defense (Anduril, Palantir, Scale AI, Shield AI)

Anduril (Costa Mesa CA, DC metro, Seattle WA), Palantir (Denver CO, Palo Alto CA, DC metro), Scale AI (San Francisco CA, DC metro), Shield AI (San Diego CA)

Cash + equity packages 40 to 100% above prime baseline for cleared SWE and forward-deployed engineers. Anduril and Palantir openly hire ex-IC and ex-DoD. Hiring loop is 4 to 6 weeks vs prime 6 to 12 weeks. Cleared work is the majority at all four.

Cleared frontier roles inside Big Tech (AWS, Microsoft, Google, Oracle)

AWS GovCloud (Herndon VA, Seattle WA), Azure Government (Reston VA, Redmond WA), Google Public Sector (Reston VA), Oracle National Security Regions

All four operate cleared cloud regions for DoD and IC. Hire cleared cloud architects, security engineers, and FedRAMP / IL5 / IL6 specialists. Comp matches Big Tech (above frontier-tech base) plus cleared premium. Most cleared cloud growth in 2025 to 2026 was here, not at the primes.

National labs and DOE (Sandia, Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, Oak Ridge)

Sandia (Albuquerque NM, Livermore CA), LANL (Los Alamos NM), LLNL (Livermore CA), ORNL (Oak Ridge TN)

DOE Q-cleared work on weapons stewardship, advanced materials, and HPC. Comp below DC metro but the classified scientific portfolio is unique. DOE Q has limited DoD reciprocity; expect a 6 to 12 month re-adjudication if crossing.

Defense and aerospace terminology that Workday is scoring

Workday at every prime ranks these terms higher than generic engineering vocabulary. Use the exact form on the right; do not invent variations.

TS/SCI: Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information. The single highest-value keyword on a defense resume. Always write as TS/SCI with the slash, never "TS SCI" or "top secret SCI".
MIL-STD-810 / MIL-STD-461 / MIL-STD-1553: DoD environmental, EMI / EMC, and avionics-data-bus standards. Workday at Lockheed, Northrop, RTX, BAE all rank these high. List the specific MIL-STD numbers you have worked under.
AS9100 / AS9102 / NADCAP: Aerospace quality standards. Lead with AS9100 for Boeing, RTX Collins, and commercial-leaning roles. NADCAP is the special-process accreditation program; cite it for manufacturing or supply-chain roles.
ITAR / EAR / CUI: Export Control. ITAR for defense articles, EAR for dual-use, CUI for Controlled Unclassified Information (replaced FOUO in 2020). Use CUI on a 2026 resume for any unclassified-but-sensitive work.
DoD 8140 (IAT / IAM Level I / II / III): DoD cyber workforce qualification standard. Replaced 8570 in 2023. List your baseline cert by name plus the level it satisfies (Sec+ CE / IAT II is the most common).
RMF / NIST 800-53 / NIST 800-171: Risk Management Framework and the underlying control catalogs. Mandatory keyword for cleared cyber, ISSO, and ATO work. CMMC Level 2 / 3 has overtaken NIST 800-171 framing for DIB suppliers in 2025 to 2026.
AWS GovCloud / Azure Government / IL2 / IL4 / IL5 / IL6: Cleared cloud regions and DoD impact levels. Highest-growth cleared cloud keywords on Workday in 2026. List the specific impact level your work touched.
DISS / NBIS: Defense Information System for Security (current) and National Background Investigation Services (rolling out). Familiarity is a plus for FSO and security-engineer roles; do not list as a deliverable.
C4ISR / ISR / SIGINT / EW: Mission-area keywords. Use only when your work was actually in these areas; recruiters at Northrop, L3Harris, BAE EW will probe in the interview.
EVM / CAM / IMS: Earned Value Management, Control Account Manager, Integrated Master Schedule. Mandatory for any defense program-management role above mid-level. Cite SPI / CPI numbers if you have them.
FAR / DFARS: Federal Acquisition Regulation and the DoD supplement. Cite the part you worked under (e.g., FAR Part 16.5 for IDIQ task orders, DFARS 252.204-7012 for cyber DIB compliance).
DO-178C / DO-254: Avionics software and hardware certification standards. Mandatory for safety-critical software on commercial and military aircraft. Boeing, RTX Collins, L3Harris airborne all rank these in Workday.

Pick a prime above and tailor in one pass

Lockheed, Northrop, RTX, BAE, GD, L3Harris, Boeing, plus Booz Allen, MITRE, Leidos, Anduril, Palantir. Tailored output preserves OPSEC and keeps your cleared line front and center.

Tailor for a defense employer

Your 30-day defense and aerospace job-search plan

Run this sequence in order. Each step compounds: skipping the cleared-line audit means every later application is downranked.

01
Days 1-3: Audit and rewrite the cleared line
Place clearance status in the resume header in the exact format Workday parses cleanly: "TS/SCI (current)" or "Secret, last active 2024-08, eligible for reinstatement under DCSA Continuous Vetting". If you list a polygraph, use "CI Polygraph (current)" or "Full-Scope Polygraph (current)".
02
Days 4-6: Pull DISS visibility and confirm cert currency
Confirm your clearance status, last investigation date, polygraph type / date, and any incident reports in DISS. If your DoD 8140 baseline (Sec+, CASP+, CISSP) is set to expire, schedule the renewal before applying.
03
Days 7-10: Build the prime-specific resume variants
Maintain one master resume plus four to seven prime-tailored variants (Lockheed, Northrop, RTX, BAE, GD, L3Harris, Boeing). Tailor only the top half: summary, first job's bullets, and skills section. Keep the bottom half consistent so older roles do not get rewritten dozens of times.
04
Days 11-14: Score each variant against a real Workday JD
Find a real, currently-open Workday job description from each prime in your target cluster. Score your tailored variant against the JD via an ATS scanner; aim for 75% keyword match minimum. Variance across the seven primes tells you which keywords (CONOPS, RMF, MIL-STD-461, AWS GovCloud, DoD 8140) you are missing.
05
Days 15-21: Submit 30 to 50 applications, batch by cluster
Apply 5 to 8 per prime, plus 5 to 10 to integrators (Booz Allen, Leidos, CACI), plus 3 to 5 to frontier-tech (Anduril, Palantir). Track in a single spreadsheet: prime, role, ATS link, application date, recruiter contact, follow-up date.
06
Days 22-26: Activate the cleared network
Reach out to 15 to 20 cleared peers who have already crossed primes (Boeing-to-Lockheed, prime-to-frontier, IC-to-contractor). Ask for one referral, not a job. Cleared-network referrals convert at 3 to 5x cold application rate.
07
Days 27-30: Polygraph readiness if you have a poly date scheduled
If a sponsor will run you on a CI or full-scope poly within 60 days, abstain from polygraph-relevant risk behaviors, document foreign travel and contacts since your last poly, and review your SF-86 entries for accuracy. Recruiters do not pre-screen for this; you must.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Sources cited in this guide

[1]
Aerospace Industries Association, 2024 Aerospace and Defense Workforce Study
Primary source for the 67% unfilled-cleared-roles figure and the broader workforce shortage data.
[2]
ClearanceJobs 2025 Security Clearance Compensation Report
Source for the $119,131 cleared average base, the +$30,000 full-scope poly premium, and VA / MD / CO salary growth.
[3]
ODNI Annual Report on Security Clearance Determinations
Source for DCSA processing-time medians (Tier 3 ~50 days, Tier 5 ~150 to 200 days).
[4]
DCSA, DISS Fact Sheet
Authoritative reference for DISS as the current DoD system of record for personnel security and Trusted Workforce 2.0 / Continuous Vetting.
[5]
public.cyber.mil, DoD 8140 Approved Baseline Certifications
Authoritative source for IAT / IAM cert-to-level mapping under DoD 8140 (replaced 8570 in 2023).
[6]
GAO-22-104093, Personnel Vetting: Actions Needed to Implement Reforms
Background on DCSA backlog, Trusted Workforce 2.0 implementation, and reciprocity rules.
[7]
NSA Prepublication Office, Resume DOs and DON'Ts (PDF)
Authoritative source for what cleared personnel may and may not disclose on a public resume.
[8]
DoD Manual 5200.02, Procedures for the DoD Personnel Security Program (PDF)
Authoritative reference for DoD personnel security procedures, reciprocity rules, and Continuous Evaluation.

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