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

A recent Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) case caught my eye because it involved the rarely used adjudicative guideline pertaining to allegiance to the United States. Here is a quick summary of the case: The DOD CAF had issued a Statement of Reasons to a defense contractor citing

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Security Clearance Process

The National Background Investigation Bureau (NBIB) released the latest metrics as of the end of August 2019 regarding background investigation processing and timelines for DoD Industry contractors. Quoting strategic terms such as surging, hubbing, and focus area, the NBIB seems to have made significant progress on cutting down the backlogs.

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Security Clearance Process

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued Security Executive Agent Directive-3 (SEAD-3) in June 2017 outlining reporting requirements for all security clearance holders. Foreign travel was specifically called out and requires clearance holders to submit a travel itinerary and get approval prior to commencing on travel. Agencies

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Security Clearance Process

The new Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) website went live last week, replacing the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB) and Defense Security Service (DSS) websites as the authoritative resource for background investigation and security clearance processing. The NBIB and DSS links will stay active through December 2019 while at

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