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 transitioned into the civilian workforce as a contractor background investigator for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) before entering civil service as a Security Specialist in 2009.

Security Clearance Denial

In one of the more unusual Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) cases I have seen in quite a while, this defense contractor had held a security clearance since 2008 until it was revoked in 2021 due to concerns about the state of his mental health after he had

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Background Investigations

There has been a slew of instances where federal background investigators have been indicted for falsifying their work in regard to completing records checks and interviews. The Department of Justice (DOJ) unveiled the latest occurrence in which Christopher Laughlin, a federal background investigator first with the Office of Personnel Management in 2018,

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Security Clearance Denial

Another Defense Office of Hearing an Appeals (DOHA) case to shake your head at and say, “What the heck was he thinking?” This security clearance applicant was denied eligibility under personal conduct for lying multiple times about having used marijuana within the last seven years. Take note, the DoD did

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Security Clearance Jobs

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is responsible for enforcing compliance with the Controlled Substances Act, thus, their threshold for tolerance of illegal or experimental drug use for job applicants is much lower than other federal agencies, and this includes the use of marijuana or THC products. Currently, the DEA timeline

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