Fill out online application, phone interview, and then face to face. Pretty easy, really, especially for Criminal Justice degrees and/or Military. Processing the preliminary background check took a few weeks, but not too bad. You have to dig up any old infractions or other items that could affect your clearance eligibility. Not a difficult process at all, but it took a while since I had a schedule conflict with training, so they told me I had to wait in order to start.