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.

Obtaining Security Clearance

The National Background Investigation System (NBIS) has been in the news quite a bit lately, and not in a good way. Congressional hearings, Inspector General reports, and even the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) itself, who owns the system, all acknowledge the continuing issues with NBIS despite being eight

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Obtaining Security Clearance

A defense contractor was initially denied clearance eligibility by the DoD due to concerns involving sexual behavior. Specifically, the conduct involved flashing his sexual organs at random people in public. The contractor successfully appealed the decision to the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals, however, Department Counsel appealed DOHA’s decision,

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Security Clearance Denial

The number of Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals cases involving illegal drug use has increased dramatically over the last few years, likely fueled by the increased number of states who have legalized marijuana. In reading the summaries of these appeals, I noted that the applicants who were upfront and honest about

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Security Clearance Process

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is responsible for running the DoD’s Continuous Vetting (CV) Program. They also enroll non-DoD agency employees into CE. One part of the CE program, run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is called Rap Back, which is short for “Record of Arrest and Prosecution Background.”  Prior

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