Can AI Help You Get a Clearance? Analysis of AI Answers to Clearance-Related Questions : Institute for Defense Analyses , December , 2025
Can AI Help You Get a Clearance? Analysis of AI Answers to Clearance-Related Questions : Institute for Defense Analyses , December , 2025
From the report: "The security clearance process (SCP) is a critical component of national security. To obtain a security clearance, applicants must go through the process, including an application where they disclose personal history and behavior, a background investigation, and one or more investigative interviews. Navigating this process is not easy, and applicants may seek help from external sources, including getting information from generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The quality of information that applicants receive from these AI tools is not known, but past research on the content of generative AI responses suggests there is reason for concern. Incorrect or incomplete information or bad advice can result in applicants making mistakes, deciding not to complete the process, or even lying on the application. The Security, Suitability & Credentialing Performance Accountability Council Program Management Office (SSC PAC PMO) asked the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) to assess the quality of information that AI tools provide to potential applicants about the SCP, in order to identify potential consequences of applicants receiving inaccurate or incomplete information and to recommend ways to mitigate these potential consequences.
We conducted an analysis of the accuracy and completeness of AI answers to difficult real-world questions about the SCP from potential applicants. While the majority of prompts (31) were sourced directly from real questions about the SCP posted in online discussion forums, we supplemented these with 14 constructed prompts to ensure full coverage of question types and topics. We intentionally selected questions that generated a lot of discussion online; these are often questions without a clear and obvious answer. The prompts fell broadly into five topics—finances, foreign influence, legal issues, substance use, and SCP procedures—and included a range of different questions. The questions we used asked for specific information about the SCP, explanations of how different factors may impact the clearance decision, or guidance on what to do in a specific situation. In total, we used 45 questions for data collection.
Authors - Smirnov, Mikhail, Dobbins, Christian, Pang, Alexis A.Subjects
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