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.

Career Advice

In the security clearance and background investigation world there are quite a few terms used that may cause confusion for those not familiar with the lexicon used by personnel security specialists and investigators. Below are typical terms and definitions used in personnel security and investigations processing. Security Term Definition (1)

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Security Clearance Denial

Security clearance holders receive an annual briefing on the requirements for maintaining eligibility and what kinds of activities are a no-no. Yet, time and again a select few choose to ignore the warnings and gamble they won’t get caught. Another recent case involving a Department of Energy contractor shows the

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Career Advice

Security clearance holders are expected to self-report changes or incidents that may impact their clearances in accordance with the National Security Adjudicative Guidelines found in Security Executive Agent Directive (SEAD) 4. Self-reporting, while mandatory, is also a question of personal integrity. The old adage “bad news does not get better

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Obtaining Security Clearance

If a perfect human being exists, the U.S. Intelligence Community or DoD has yet to meet her (or him). That’s why the “whole person concept” is such an important part of the security clearance process. National security adjudicators are much more interested in lifestyle patterns than they are in any

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