The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

New scholar here.
I have done some downloading of movies “occasionally” just for my personal use. I stopped since Nov2020.
Would this be a problem for security clearance? Is it better to disclose and be honest about this?

....and I don’t have any other risk factors for getting Clearance

Shouldn't be a problem. Don't lie about it. Your investigator(s) aren't the moral police and they aren't cops. They're investigating your reliability as a national security asset and their reports will be assessed by a panel with the same objective. The federal government typically doesn't appreciate when its employees violate federal law, so it's probably good that you stopped but that's pretty benign, especially if you never distributed.

Potential questions to expect during processing: During what period of time did you engage in pirating? Do you still engage in pirating? What types of materials did you pirate (textbooks, movies, music, software, etc.)? What was the estimated total value of all materials you pirated?

If that's the biggest bit of baggage you have, I really wouldn't worry about it.

You will be fine, I can practically guarantee it. They really don't care much about that (I wasn't even asked about that). And if they did care so much, then probably a fair amount of people wouldn't get a clearance. The rate of denial for clearances is I believe about 5% (even lower after considering appeals).

I stressed so much about my clearance as I had done little things on par with that. It all worked out without issue because they learned that I don't have anything I can be blackmailed with, have solid financial status (i.e. no bankruptcy, no loan defaults, no massive debts), no addictive behaviors, and I will most importantly be loyal to the U.S. As long as you are good on those fronts then you will 100% be fine.

Thank you, appreciate all your responses.