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 Process

The congressional push for a return to the “old days” when the Defense Security Service conducted all of the background investigations for the DoD prompted various news outlets (Federal News Radio, FedSmith, Government Executive) to weigh in. Even the Office of Personnel Management (parent of NBIB), which remained out of

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Adjudication

When applicants receive a Statement of Reasons (SOR) intending to deny them eligibility for a security clearance it usually contains details of the disqualifying issues found in their background investigation and identifies the specific adjudicative guidelines they fall under (e.g., Guideline E: Personal Conduct). However, on appeal when an administrative

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Adjudication

In a rare case of double reversal, the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) Board issued a final decision reversing the previous DOHA judge’s decision to grant the applicant eligibility for a clearance after the Department of Defense (DoD) had initially denied it. Here is a summary of the case and

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Security Clearance Denial

In a recent Department of Energy clearance denial appeal the judge turned the tables on the applicant’s argument that he misunderstood the questions on the SF-86 application as to why he didn’t disclose delinquent taxes, debts, and arrests. The issues in this case involved the applicant failing to file his taxes, getting

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