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.

Background Investigations

With all of the scams, identity theft and other nefarious activity going on these days more and more people are opting to freeze their credit to prevent unauthorized access or fraud. This is a conundrum for security clearance applicants or current holders when undergoing a background investigation because it will

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Security Clearance Denial

On this forum we have repeatedly stressed honesty and full disclosure when filling out the SF-86 application for a security clearance and advising applicants to take responsibility for previous conduct or behavior that may be of concern. Most FSOs and Security Managers grill their applicants and provide the same advice.

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Background Investigations

The National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB) conducts approximately 95% of the background investigations for the Federal Government, and also handles portions of investigations (e.g., NACs, FBI fingerprint checks) for agencies that run their own investigations.  In 2016 the NBIB had a total investigator workforce of 5,843 (federal and contractor investigators)

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Security Clearance Process

Many security clearance applicants seem to get confused about what they are required to list when they get to the police record section on the SF-86. There are “EVER” and within the last seven year questions, questions that deal with alcohol, questions that deal with illegal drug use, questions about

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