clone git repo into a new project

this may seem like a simple question, can I and how do i clone an existing repository for a new project, without changing / effecting that existing project?

I have two starter projects that I use as templates both include a few submodules, When I start a new project I'd like to clone that repository, and then get going with in my new repo with beanstalk or bitBuket.

any help would be appreciated.

note :

I'm not a terminal pro so.....
I use Tower for Git repo management with beanstalk and bitBucket

EDIT :

I'd be happy to take a crack at this with terminal if thats the way it needs to be done, to clarify my objective - I need to :

clone a local repository
initialize its submodules
share it with my team via bitbucket or beanstalk (ideally the second)

from whats been posted essentially I need to mimic the fork functionality and then be able to push that to one of the services mentioned.

Solution

I'm not familiar with "Tower" you mentioned, so if you don't find a 'fork' option there (and if you don't want to try TortoiseGit or something else...) try this in the command line:

cd nameofdirectory
git init
git clone forkedURL

taken from this thread : "How to use Github using terminal commands?"