Falsely Claiming College Degrees and Military Service Results in Clearance Denial

I have read through some pretty interesting case summaries over the years, but this Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) case I ran across stood out for the blatant fabrication of information that turned out to be completely false. The DoD initially denied this contractor clearance eligibility based on Guideline I (Psychological Conditions) and Guideline E (Personal Conduct). Here is a summary of the case:

The security clearance applicant had been a Federal contractor since 2015 and had completed some college coursework, but not been awarded any degrees. On her submitted SF-86 she claimed two bachelor’s degrees and four master’s degrees. She also claimed to have served as a Marine Corp civilian employee for two years, was a helicopter pilot and a former FBI agent at one time, and in the Air Force Inactive Reserves for 11 years. Turns out none of this was true. She also failed to list two employment terminations. A psychologist diagnosed her in 2019 with having an anti-social personality disorder. Amazingly enough, she appealed her clearance denial to DOHA and tried to explain away all the discrepancies:

• The college degrees were mistakenly listed because of computer connectivity problems and drop-down menus in e-QIP
• Failing to list employment terminations was due to unintentional oversight
• Employment with the Marine Corp was listed because she had volunteered at sporting events for retired military members
• The Air Force service was listed because she had been in the Civil Air Patrol at one time
• The helicopter pilot and FBI agent jobs on her resume’ were typographical errors

Needless to say, the DOHA judge was unsympathetic to all of these “misunderstandings” on her security clearance application and upheld the denial. This case is one for the books! Go here to read the entire case.