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

The year has passed and with all of the changes in the background investigation and security clearance realm it seems apt to label 2019 as the year of clearance and investigation reform.

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Security Clearance Process

Insider threat, leakers, and counterintelligence concerns have led to changes in the way security clearance holders are vetted and monitored. Reinvestigations have gone by the wayside and continuous vetting (CV) is now the way forward. One would think the same CV standards would apply to all clearance holders, whether they

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Security Clearance Process

In accordance with Executive Orders and policy guidance from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the granting of a security clearance should only be done when there is a legitimate need for access to classified information. Defense Industry companies are highly encouraged to keep the numbers of cleared

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Security Clearance Denial

There are two topics during background investigation processing that cause the most problems for applicants: failure to disclose criminal history and how you left a previous employment. The Standard Form 85, 85-P or 86 (used for all investigation levels also require submission of the OF-306 (Declaration for Federal Employment). There

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