Can you lose your clearance for a DUI or financial problems?
Yep. It’s possible.
Oh, yes! Those are big red flags for clearances. They will be looked at, but not necessarily result in a clearance getting pulled. But if you have either you are required to self-report them.
Financial problem, potentially. DUI, no, not normally, unless it showed a pattern that would result in a vulnerability that could be exported.
The thing is that a foreign intel service is going to either exploit an existing vulnerability, or they will create a vulnerability that didn’t previously exist.
All of this supposing you were worth targeting in the first place.
The only way to protect most secrets is with lies. The more convincing the better.
“Can you lose your clearance for a DUI or financial problems?”
Both are huge. One other thing they look at is “conspicuous consumption”, and they look at your stuff — house, cars, etc. — and determine if the value is higher than your family’s income. If not, then “where’s the money coming from”?
Husband had TS during his career and we had to steer clear of some really great people at our church who were Chinese nationals. We visited Niagara Falls and couldn’t go to the Canadian side because he didn’t apply for clearance before the trip. It was weird, and had had to mind your Ps and Qs in every part of life.