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

Illegal drug use appeals are piling up at the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals, mostly due to marijuana being legalized for recreational and medical use in more and more states. As noted by the Director of National Intelligence in a memorandum published in 2021, marijuana use in and of itself is not automatically

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Security Clearance Process

The Department of State’s (DoS) Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) was accused of discriminatory and biased practices when it came to granting security clearances due to its assignment restrictions policies. Last year, the DoS ended their restrictions policy that had allowed the DS to deny applicants a security clearance for foreign service

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Security Clearance Process

Special Access Programs (SAP) are established to protect national security by employing enhanced security measures to strictly enforce need-to-know and have access requirements that exceed those normally required for information at the same classification level. SAPs can be classified at all clearance levels but are heavily restricted when it comes

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Security Clearance Denial

Having been in the military myself many years ago, it always astounds me when I read about military personnel who blatantly use drugs while in the service, even though they know it is not allowed. I guess with easy access to a variety of drugs, especially overseas, the temptation is too much

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