Hi all.  Well, I've been looking for a forum to vent some frustration at my experiences in gov't work and NS, and I guess this is as good a place as any...

I am 4th generation Asian-american, and my father is a deceased combat vietnam veteran (for us, of course).  Several years ago, I interned for Diplomatic Security at a major US Embassy.  From the get-go, starting with my security-clearance interview, I had serious doubts about our NS apparatus.

My interview was conducted by a retired FBI guy.  It was a little insulting that the entire interview focused on a study-abroad experience in China during college.  Now, I understand the concern over such a trip... but his ignorance of cultural matters was off-putting, especially since he had the power to deny me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  I am Korean-american, but I think his assumption was "slant eyed guy = potential spy".  I just kept my cool and answered his questions truthfully.  I was asked to write a detailed account of every little thing that happened and every singe person I interacted with in China, complete with contact info and even birth dates.  This was a pain-in-the-ass, but I agreed to do it, and I eventually got my clearance and left for post.  I chose to brush it off... after all, this is a time of security concerns, and it's not so amazing that my Asian descent causes some concern.  Oh well, water over the dam, right?

When I got to post, my DS bosses seemed a bit surprised that I was Asian, and I experienced some very mild discomfort.  They obviously had never had an Asian intern.  They gave a DS cell phone to the other (white) intern, but never offered me one till I asked for one.  They also invited this other intern to their local watering-hole on a regular basis, but for some reason, I was never invited... even though I'm a likable guy.  Again, I just kept cool and tried to set a good example by being an exceptional worker.  I'm glad I worked in DS, because I had access to a large amount of classified info which explained a lot of things to me.

For one thing, i found out that of more than a dozen interns, I was the ONLY one who had an interview conducted.  Other interns had spent time in questionable parts of the world like the middle-east, even Cuba for one, and one had admitted drug use... but they were all white, and I guess that means that they can't be as disloyal as me.

But what killed me was the case of a senior-diplomat's wife.  She was a German national and they had recently been married.  Because of her husbands pull, she got fast-track citizenship within MONTHS of their marriage, and then immediately received a job in the embassy with a TOP SECRET clearance.  I read her file, and she received this TS clearance even though she had refused to renounce her double-citizenship and declare allegiance only to the US.  Hmmm.  On top of that, one could tell from talking to her that she didn't feel any allegiance to the US whatsoever.... and here she was with access to TS material.  For all I know, she could be funneling sensitive materials to the German gov't.  Now had his wife been Chinese or Arab... I think it would have been a little less easy for her to fly through the red-tape to a TS clearance.

I've struggled to be trusted, having to endure the mistrust of my colleagues when I have lived in the US my whole life and had a father who died for this country in Vietnam... and I'm sure that I would have to deal with that my whole life if I stayed in the gov't.

Like the old adage goes: that's just the way it is, I know... 

But what kills me is when the CIA or FBI complain that not enough minorities are applying for positions.  Well, I don't really blame them.  In the private sector, we have to endure some discrimination as well, but we can also get filthy rich.  In the gov't, we don't make money, we face the same discrimination, and on top of that we get subtle accusations of potential disloyalty.  Ok... where's the incentive to sign up?

Rick