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.

Adjudication

A large number of the Department of Energy (DOE) security clearance appeals cases involve denials under Guideline G – Alcohol Consumption. As such, the DOE has a staff of psychologists on hand that evaluate security clearance applicants for various psychological disorders, to include Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD). Just last month, the

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Security Clearance Denial

Back in 2014, the US Investigations Services LLC (USIS) was the largest provider of personnel security investigations to the U.S. Government. That was until a whistleblower reported they were improperly submitting investigations to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) without first performing a required review of the cases, a practice known

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Adjudication

In applying the Whole-Person Concept, an administrative judge or adjudicator must evaluate an applicant’s eligibility for a security clearance by considering the totality of the applicant’s conduct and all relevant circumstances. You will see this verbiage written in all of the case summaries by Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals judges.

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Security Clearance Process

Increasingly I come across background investigations where the applicant fills out the Questionnaire for National Security Positions (SF-86) and they fail to list required information in the police record section of the form. As a result, the investigation is conducted, information is found that contradicts the applicant’s answers to the

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