Author Archive

Marko Hakamaa

Marko Hakamaa served in various military police positions with the United States Army worldwide for 22 years before retiring in 2006 as a Master Sergeant. Afterwards, he has worked as a contractor background investigator, a government industrial and personnel security specialist, and as a national security and public trust background investigation adjudicator.

Background Investigations

Here are some recent scenarios posted on ClearanceJobsBlog.com regarding applicants undergoing two background investigations (public trust and national security) at the same time: The question that came up for both scenarios: can both investigations for each applicant run concurrently or does one cancel out the other? For applicant #1, the

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Security Clearance Denial

One of the more straightforward questions on the SF-86 asks how you left an employer within the past seven years. Specifically, it asks whether you were fired, quit after being told you would be fired, or left by mutual agreement following allegations of misconduct or unsatisfactory performance. In my opinion,

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Obtaining Security Clearance

A post on the ClearanceJobsBlog recently highlighted a concerning example of misinformation during the recruiting process. An applicant shared that a recruiter told him he would not be eligible for a security clearance with the U.S. Space Force because his father was not a U.S. citizen. The applicant was born

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Obtaining Security Clearance

Eligibility for access to classified information may be granted to security clearance applicants on an interim basis when specific conditions are met while the background investigation is underway and before a final eligibility determination is made. An interim clearance allows an applicant to begin working in a position requiring access

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