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 Process

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued requirements for all Government agencies to enroll their security clearance holders into an initial continuous vetting program by September 30, 2021. This initial phase is designed to comply with future Trusted Workforce 2.0

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Security Clearance Process

Those not working in or having experience in the industrial security world may find the acronyms and specific meaning of words a bit confusing as they apply to classified contracts, security clearances, and the handling and protection of classified material. As an example; an FSO must ensure all employees have

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Background Investigations

There are different types of federal background investigations and matching adjudicative criteria used to make favorable or unfavorable determinations. Depending on the purpose and level of the investigation, adjudicators are trained to apply the correct adjudicative criteria to each case. Here are the different types of adjudicative determinations: National Security

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Security Clearance Denial

Anyone who has filled out a Questionnaire for National Security Positions (SF-86) is familiar with the section where you must list all previous employments in the past seven years and why you left. It is pretty straightforward and branching questions ask about being fired, leaving employment under mutual agreement after being told

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