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

Even though it is practiced across the entire country, prostitution is illegal in the United States. There are countries where it is legal and regulated. Regardless of where it occurs, soliciting a prostitute is never a good idea for someone who has a security clearance. What is the big deal,

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Security Clearance Denial

I don’t see more than a handful of Defense Office of Hearing and Appeal cases where the applicant is denied security clearance eligibility due to having monies, property and business dealing outside of the United States. This one caught my eye because it involved a multi-millionaire who had assets in

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Background Investigations

Not to sound like a broken record here, but it amazes me when people want to work for the federal government as a civilian employee or contractor, but haven’t figured out that marijuana use is illegal at the federal level regardless of whether it is legal in their state. This

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Security Clearance Process

Among all the security clearance reform initiatives over the last five years was an effort by Senator Mark Warner (D-Va) to modernize the way the government vetted applicants for security clearances andpositions of public trust. One specific area he wanted to focus on was expediting the reciprocity process for those

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