You opened the SF-86 and the first thing it asks is where you have lived. For how long? The form says 10 years. Then a few sections later it asks about drug use, and that one only goes back 7 years. Then there is a question about a court ruling that has no time limit at all. It just says "ever."

This trips up almost everyone the first time. The SF-86 does not use one lookback window. It uses several. Some sections go back 7 years. Some go back 10. A handful go back to age 18 or your whole life. If you guess the wrong window, you either leave out something you needed to report or you waste hours pulling records nobody asked for.

I filled out my own SF-86 when I went through the clearance process. I sat there with a blank address history and no idea how far back to dig. So I get why this question gets searched so much. This guide lays out the exact lookback period for each major section of the current SF-86. Every window here comes straight from the live form (OMB No. 3206-0005). I will also show you the mistakes that stall a case, because the windows are only half the battle.

What Are the Main Lookback Windows on the SF-86?

The SF-86 is the Questionnaire for National Security Positions, run by OPM. It is the single longest form most people will ever fill out for a job. The current version is the December 2017 revision.

The form sorts its questions into four time windows. Knowing which is which saves you the most pain. Here they are.

The 10-year window covers where you have lived and worked. The 7-year window covers most behavior and contact questions. The "since age 18" rule kicks in for the basics like residence and school history if 10 years does not give you enough. The "ever" window has no end. It covers a short list of serious items, like a court ruling you mentally incompetent.

Now let me walk the form section by section. I will give you the exact window each one uses.

Which SF-86 Sections Go Back 10 Years?

Three big sections use the 10-year window. These are the ones that eat the most time, because they ask you to account for every single month with no gaps.

Where You Have Lived (Section 11)

The form says to list your homes "beginning with your present residence and working back 10 years." The key word is "working back." You start now and move backward.

The catch is the no-gap rule. The form wants the entire period accounted for. No missing months between two addresses. If you moved in March but did not sign your next lease until May, you still need to say where you slept in April. A friend's couch counts. A barracks counts.

Where You Went to School (Section 12)

School history also uses 10 years. The form asks if you attended any school in the last 10 years. It also asks if you earned a degree more than 10 years ago. If yes to either, you list it.

There is a floor here. The form says not to list education before your 18th birthday, unless you need it to show at least two years of school history.

Employment Activities (Section 13A)

Your job history goes back 10 years too. Same no-gap rule as your address history. The form says "the entire period must be accounted for without breaks."

This is where people lose the most time. Every job. Every gap. Every stretch of unemployment. Each one needs a separate entry. If you were out of work for four months between contracts, that gap is its own line. Military duty counts as employment, and each change of duty station is a separate entry.

Dominic Landed a Six-Figure Role
With a Top Defense Firm.

"The most effective resource I used in my transition."
— Dominic, E-7, Marines

Read their story →

Federal (USAJOBS) & private sector formats Translates military jargon into civilian language Tailored to each job — not a generic template

Get My Free Resume

2 free tailored resumes, cover letters & LinkedIn optimization

Which SF-86 Sections Go Back 7 Years?

Most of the behavior and contact questions use the 7-year window. This is the bucket where people guess wrong the most, because the rules feel like they should match the 10-year sections. They do not.

Illegal Drug Use (Section 23)

The drug question asks: "In the last seven (7) years, have you illegally used any drugs or controlled substances?" Seven years. Not ten. Not ever.

This matters for one big reason. Marijuana is legal in many states now, but it is still illegal under federal law. Use inside the 7-year window gets reported, no matter what your state allows. The window does not move because your state changed its laws.

Use of Alcohol (Section 24)

Alcohol uses 7 years too. But read this one closely. It does not ask if you drink. It asks if your alcohol use had a "negative impact" in the last 7 years. Think work problems, an arrest, or being told to get treatment. Normal social drinking is not a reportable event here.

Financial Record (Section 26)

Money questions use 7 years. Bankruptcy in the last 7 years gets reported. Failure to file or pay taxes in the last 7 years gets reported. Same for delinquent debts.

Finances are one of the top reasons clearances get denied or delayed. Not because you have debt. Because you hid it or could not explain it. Pull your credit report before you start so your numbers match what the investigator finds.

Police Record (Section 22)

The core police questions use 7 years. Arrests, citations, charges, probation, and parole in the last 7 years all get reported. There is a small exception for minor traffic tickets under 300 dollars that did not involve drugs or alcohol.

Here is the trap. Once you answer yes, the detail questions dig deeper. Section 22.2 adds a second layer with no time limit at all. Four categories must be reported no matter when they happened: a conviction where the sentence was more than one year and you were incarcerated more than one year, any felony charge, any domestic violence conviction, and any charge involving alcohol, drugs, firearms, or explosives. If any of those apply, report it even if it happened decades ago. When in doubt on a criminal matter, report it and explain it.

Foreign Travel and Foreign Contacts (Sections 19 and 20)

Foreign travel uses 7 years. The form asks if you traveled outside the U.S. in the last 7 years. Travel that was purely for government or military business does not need the full detail. Personal trips do.

Foreign contacts also use 7 years. The question covers close or continuing contact with a foreign national in the last 7 years. For more on how to list these without triggering extra digging, read our guide on SF-86 foreign contacts in Section 19.

How Do the References and "Ever" Questions Work?

Two windows are left. The references rule and the "ever" rule. They confuse people for different reasons.

People Who Know You Well (Section 16)

Section 16 asks for three people who know you well. The form wants references who can collectively cover the last 7 years. Note the word "collectively." Each person does not need to have known you for 7 years on their own. Together, the three should cover that stretch.

You cannot list a spouse, a former spouse, other relatives, or anyone already named elsewhere on the form. Picking the wrong three is a common stall. Pick people who will actually answer the phone. For a deeper walk-through, read our guide on how to pick three SF-86 references who will not slow your case.

The "Ever" Questions (No Time Limit)

A handful of questions have no end date. They use the word "ever." These are reserved for serious items.

One example sits in Section 21, the mental and emotional health section. It asks if a court or agency ever ruled you mentally incompetent. There is no 7-year or 10-year window. It is your whole life. The same "ever" logic shows up for certain criminal convictions in Section 22.2. It also shows up in separate status questions that have no start date, like whether you have ever renounced U.S. citizenship.

Do not let the mental-health section scare you. Most counseling does not have to be reported at all. The form actually says it views getting help as a sign of strength. The "ever" trigger is narrow. It is the court ruling, not the therapy.

What Are the Most Common Lookback Mistakes?

The windows are only half the job. The other half is filling them out clean. After going through my own clearance process and watching transitioning service members do theirs, the same mistakes show up again and again.

Rounding Your Dates

People round move-in dates and job dates to make the math easy. "I think I started there around summer 2019." That guess can clash with the record the investigator pulls. Now your dates do not match, and they have to ask why. Use real month-and-year dates. If you truly cannot recall, the form lets you mark a date as estimated. Mark it. Do not fake precision.

Leaving Gaps in the Timeline

This is the big one. A blank stretch in your address or job history stops the case cold. The investigator cannot move past a hole in the timeline. Account for every month, even the messy ones. Couch surfing, unemployment, a gap between contracts. All of it goes in.

Forgetting Old Addresses

Ten years of addresses is a lot for anyone who moved often. Service members who PCS'd every few years feel this hard. Pull your records before you start. Old leases, tax returns, and your credit report all list past addresses. Build the full list first, then fill the form.

Misreading the Window

The fix here is simple. Read the exact words on each question. Do not assume drug use uses the same 10-year window as your address history. It does not. Each section tells you its own window right in the question text. Trust the form, not your gut.

Why Do the Lookback Windows Matter for Your Case?

The reason is honesty, plain and simple. The whole investigation is built to test one thing. Can you be trusted with sensitive information. The investigator from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency is not trying to catch you in old mistakes. They are checking if your form matches reality.

When you use the right window and fill it completely, you make their job easy. The case moves. When you guess the window wrong, miss a year, or round a date, you create a question. Each question is a phone call or an email back to you. Each one adds time.

This is why disclosure beats concealment every time. A 10-year-old issue you reported is just a data point. The same issue, hidden and then found, becomes a trust problem. Trust problems are what actually sink clearances. The timeline of how all this plays out is covered in our guide on the security clearance investigation timeline.

How the SF-86 Connects to Your Job Application

The SF-86 is not your resume. You do not get the clearance form until after a job offer for a position that needs one. Your resume and federal application come first. They are what get you to the offer.

So the SF-86 windows and your resume work together. The cleaner your federal resume is at landing the cleared job, the sooner you face this form. If you are still building that application, our Federal Resume Builder handles the format and translation for you. It was built by veterans who have sat on hiring panels and selected from the cert.

Once you have the cleared role and the SF-86 in hand, the only job left is filling it out clean. Know your windows. Fill every month. Pull your records first. For the full timing picture on the form itself, see our guide on how long the SF-86 takes and what HR wants. And if you already hold a clearance and want to confirm its status before you apply, read how to check your clearance status after the military.

The form is long. It is not a trap. Match it to reality, account for the time, and it does exactly what it is supposed to do. It clears the path to the work.