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

Recently, I have noticed the number of appeals submitted to the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) where security clearance eligibility was denied based on marijuana use. It seems many applicants think because it is legal in their state or because it has been federally decriminalized, it is not

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Obtaining Security Clearance

Have you ever wondered how other countries process their applicants for a security clearance? Is it more or less stringent? It depends on what country we are talking about. Let’s take Australia for instance. They are in a strategic geographic region and have to be politically sensitive to relations with

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Security Clearance Jobs

The creation of a new branch of the military, the Space Force, has created new contract opportunities for commercial aerospace space companies to provide the Department of Defense (DoD) with critical technologies and support to help counter the continued counterintelligence threat from countries like China and Russia. Many of these companies

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Background Investigations

In accordance with Security Executive Agency Directive (SEAD) 3 all security clearance holders are required to report suspicious contact with foreign nationals, especially if they are associated with a foreign government. In a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) case an Air Force civilian employee, Xiaoming Zhang, was convicted of providing false

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