You found a strong veteran candidate. The resume is clean. The interview went well. They have an active or recent clearance. Now your program manager wants one answer: when can this person actually start, and what can they touch on day one?

This is where a lot of hires stall. The recruiter and the program manager have different definitions of "ready." One thinks a signed offer means start Monday. The other knows the candidate cannot sit in the SCIF until a clearance action clears. The gap between those two views costs you a funded seat and a frustrated new hire.

An interim clearance is the tool that closes most of that gap. It lets a new hire begin classified work before the full investigation finishes. (If you are still holding a candidate through the adjudication window, our guide on managing a contingent offer pending clearance covers how to keep them warm.) But it has limits, and it carries a risk you need to plan for. This guide walks through what an interim allows, how soon someone can start, what they can and cannot work on, and how to build a start date and ramp that does not blow up if the interim gets withdrawn.

What Is an Interim Security Clearance?

A full clearance takes time. The government has to run a background investigation, then a separate office adjudicates the results. That can take weeks or months depending on the level and the case.

An interim clearance is a bridge. It lets a person start classified work before the full process is done. The government grants it based on a limited review. That review checks the submitted security package (the SF-86), runs a national agency check, and for interim Top Secret adds an FBI name check and a fingerprint-based criminal history check. The full background investigation, including a credit check and interviews, runs separately and at the same time.

The interim is not a shortcut to a final clearance. It is a temporary green light so work can begin. The full investigation still runs in the background. The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) grants most interim clearances for contractor personnel. They exist for one reason. They let a contract get staffed without waiting for the whole adjudication to finish.

What Can a New Hire Do With an Interim Secret or Top Secret?

This is the question your program manager really cares about. The short answer: an interim at a given level lets the person access classified information at that level on many contracts.

So an interim Secret can open the door to Secret work. An interim Top Secret can open the door to Top Secret work. The person can sit in the right spaces, read the right material, and start producing. That is the whole point of the interim.

There is one big exception you have to know. An interim Top Secret does not grant access to Sensitive Compartmented Information. SCI is an access add-on, not just a higher level. It needs its own favorable adjudication. So if the role requires TS/SCI, an interim TS alone is not enough. The person can start on the collateral TS work, but they cannot touch the SCI material until the SCI piece clears.

Access rules can vary by contract and by the customer's own requirements. The final word always comes from your facility security officer. Before you promise a program manager what the new hire can touch, confirm it with your FSO against that specific contract.

How Soon Can the New Hire Actually Start?

Two clocks run here. The first is the interim grant. The second is the final adjudication. You build the start date around the first one.

The interim moves fast because it is a limited check. Once the candidate submits a clean package and the action is in the system, the interim can come back in days. A few weeks at most for a clean record. There is no fixed number that holds for every case. A clean record moves quicker. Anything that needs a second look slows it down.

The final clearance is the slow clock. Timelines move around a lot. The government tracks the "fastest 90 percent" of cases as its yardstick. For initial Secret clearances, the government reported that the fastest-90-percent average improved from about 162 days in fiscal year 2018 to around 58 days in fiscal year 2020, per GAO reporting on the clearance process. A 2025 GAO audit later found the method used to calculate the figures after 2020 was flawed and likely undercounted the real wait. Top Secret runs longer. Treat any number as a moving target, not a promise.

The takeaway for your start date: do not wait for the final. Plan the start around the interim. That is the difference between filling a seat this month and leaving it empty until next quarter.

What Is the Revocation Risk if the Interim Is Denied?

Recruiters skip this part. Managers learn it the hard way. An interim is not a final. It can be withdrawn. The full investigation can turn up something that the quick check did not, and the interim goes away.

If that happens, the person loses access to classified work. They cannot sit in the SCIF or touch the material until and unless a final clearance is granted. For a role that is 100 percent classified, that means the person cannot do the job they were hired for.

This is a planning problem, not a reason to avoid interim-based starts. Most interims convert to final clearances without drama. But you build for the case where one does not. The fix is to know, before the start date, what unclassified work this person can do if the interim is pulled. Some roles have a buffer of unclassified tasks. Some do not. Knowing which one you are dealing with is the whole game.

One more thing on risk. An interim is not the same legal animal as a final clearance, and the process for an interim being withdrawn is not the same as a final clearance denial. The statutory framework for clearances lives in 50 U.S. Code § 3341. Your FSO and security team own this. Your job as the hiring side is to plan the start so a withdrawn interim is a setback, not a disaster.

How Do You Plan a Start Date and Ramp Around an Interim?

A good cleared onboarding plan assumes the interim, not the final. You get the person started, productive, and billing fast, while you keep a soft landing ready in case the interim does not hold.

Veterans are a strong fit for this exact situation. Many of them already hold an active or recent clearance from their service. That can speed the interim and the final both. If you want the deeper mechanics on sourcing them, see our guide on how to find cleared veteran talent for defense roles.

Once the person is on board, the first 90 days set whether they stick. A cleared start has extra moving parts, so a structured ramp matters more here, not less. Our 90-day onboarding plan for veteran employees lays out a ramp you can adapt for a cleared role.

How Does an Existing Veteran Clearance Change the Math?

A candidate who already holds an active clearance is a different situation than a brand-new applicant. If their clearance is current, you may be able to cross it over through reciprocity instead of starting from scratch. If it lapsed recently, see our guide on reinstating a lapsed clearance within the 24-month window. That can shorten both clocks.

Veterans are where a lot of this talent lives. Many separate with an active Secret or Top Secret already on file. A clearance is the most expensive thing to produce in this hiring process. A candidate who already has one is worth a premium. The cost case for this is real, and we break it down in our piece on the cost savings of a cleared veteran hire.

One caution on reciprocity. It usually applies, but limits and conditions exist, and a long break in service can force a new investigation. Always confirm the crossover with your FSO before you bank on it for a start date. Say "likely crossover," not "guaranteed."

What About Polygraphs and Higher-Tier Roles?

Some roles need more than a standard clearance. A polygraph is a common add-on for certain agencies and SCI billets. An interim does not get a person around that. If the role requires a poly, the person cannot do the polygraph-gated work until that step is done, interim or not.

This matters for your start-date math on the most sensitive roles. The interim might let a person start collateral work. But the poly-gated and SCI-gated portions wait for the full process. Plan the ramp so the person has real work to do during that wait. If your roles touch this, our guide on polygraph requirements for cleared roles covers the CI, lifestyle, and full-scope differences.

If your company hires for government services and contracts more broadly, the same start-date discipline applies across the board. Our overview on recruiting veterans for government services and contracts puts this in the wider hiring picture.

Where to Find Cleared Veteran Talent to Hire

The whole interim conversation gets easier when your candidate already brings a clearance to the table. That is the veteran pool. People separating from service often hold an active or recent Secret or Top Secret. They also bring the discipline to handle classified work correctly.

BMR keeps a steady, growing supply of that talent. More than 1,000 new veteran profiles are added every month, and over 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. That means a fresh pipeline of candidates who can pass an interim quickly and convert to a final without surprises.

If you are staffing cleared or contract roles and want access to that pool, reach out to hire veteran talent through BMR. We will connect you with candidates who fit the clearance, the contract, and the start date you are trying to hit.