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.

Background Investigations

The National Background Investigation Services is slowly being pushed out to agencies across the federal government. The initial rollout experienced various glitches that had to be addressed by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), and many agencies were wary at first of using the system due to frequent outages and other

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Security Clearance Denial

According to psychologists, a gambling disorder involves repeated, problem gambling behavior. The behavior leads to problems for the individual, families, and society. People with a gambling disorder have trouble controlling their gambling and will continue even when it causes significant problems with relationships and finances. A recent Department of Energy Office

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Security Clearance Denial

Security clearance holders receive an initial security briefing and subsequent annual briefings that provide them information on their responsibilities, what kind of things they should avoid, and what they are required to report. It is well known that marijuana, as well as CBD and THC extracts, are off limits for

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Background Investigations

There was a lively and informative conversation on a recent ClearanceJobs Blog posting when a security clearance applicant asked for advice on whether they needed to report a domestic violence arrest where the judge deferred sentencing as part of a plea agreement by the defendant. Let’s take a look at what deferred

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