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

A Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) case caught my eye because it is related to all of the recent protests across the United States advocating fair treatment and respect for all. This applicant had previously held a security clearance for 12 years and has worked as a federal

Read More
Obtaining Security Clearance

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Personnel Security Program is run out of the Office of the Chief Security Officer (OCSO) and is one of the biggest after DoD, responsible for processing all types of investigations on federal employees and industry contractors for the various sub-components of DHS. The OCSO

Read More
Security Clearance Denial

Many enlistees going into the military provide false or erroneous information on security clearance applications in order to get past the screeners. Often times they are told by a recruiter or someone else to not disclose information such as illegal drug use which might be disqualifying. This is understandable and

Read More
Adjudication

The DoD Consolidated Adjudications Facility (CAF) was already utilizing telework capabilities for their personnel reviewing and adjudicating background investigations prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. That capability enabled the DoD CAF to keep pushing through the backlog and reducing the inventory to a steady state. Here is are some of their most recent

Read More