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

As in previous years, financial issues rule the roost as the number one reason for a security clearance denial. The number of appeals heard by the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) involving financial considerations alone makes up more 48% of all the cases submitted. Of those, DOHA upheld

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Security Clearance Denial

I see this time and time again where an applicant undergoing a background investigation fails to disclose getting fired from employment. Usually, the reason for getting fired is based on performance and attendance issues. This in and of itself will not result in an unfavorable adjudicative determination, but failure to

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Security Clearance Process

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) published their latest investigation processing stats a few days ago. This includes the processing of the investigations and the adjudication piece of it. They also provided the numbers on how many were enrolled in Trusted Workforce (TW) 1.25 Continuous Vetting (CV)and Rap Back enrollment. There is a

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Security Clearance Denial

I ran across a recent Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) case involving a former U.S. Marine Corp (USMC) officer who had elected to receive an “Other Than Honorable” type discharge in April of 2020 in lieu of being court martialed for misconduct involving sexual harassment, fraternization, and using

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