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 InvestigationsObtaining Security ClearanceSecurity Clearance Process

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) published guidance last week for defense industry security professionals regarding automatic enrollment into DoD’s Continuous Vetting (CV) Program for clearance holders. The Vetting Risk Operations (VRO) is tasked with ensuring industry security clearance holders are enrolled in CV. The VRO recently discovered a glitch in the automatic

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AdjudicationObtaining Security ClearanceSecurity Clearance DenialSecurity Clearance Process

I ran across an interesting security clearance appeal case involving a bag of traveling cookies laced with THC that found their way into the refrigerator of a Department of Energy (DOE) contractor with a security clearance. The contractor’s security clearance was suspended after testing positive on a drug test and

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Security Clearance Denial

A Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD) from the military is not seen as often as a General (under honorable conditions) and usually is the result of serious criminal conduct or other behaviors. In a recent Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) case, a DoD contractor was initially denied security clearance

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Security Clearance Jobs

Stealing from your employer – and then lying about it – is a great way to lose a security clearance.

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