Former USIS Background Investigator Denied Clearance Eligibility
Back in 2014, the US Investigations Services LLC (USIS) was the largest provider of personnel security investigations to the U.S. Government. That was until a whistleblower reported they were improperly submitting investigations to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) without first performing a required review of the cases, a practice known inside USIS as “flushing” or “dumping.” The ensuing Department of Justice investigation resulted in over 30 investigators who have been convicted of falsifying investigative checks.
A recent Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) case involved a former USIS background investigator who was caught up in the 2014 DOJ investigation. She eventually was terminated in August 2014 due to concerns about the integrity of her work and her failure to follow OPM policies and guidance. In 2016, she applied to a different government contractor for a background investigator position and completed the requisite SF-86. Incredibly, she failed to disclose that she had been suspended and terminated from employment for misconduct in 2014.
During an interview with a background investigator in 2018, she claimed to have been laid off for lack of work and the loss of a government contract, not terminated as indicated in the letter her former company sent her. In her response to DOD CAF interrogatories about her employment and reasons for her termination, she again denied any misconduct despite all of the factual evidence against her. The DOHA judge cited her continued deceit and lack of remorse for her previous conduct in denying her eligibility for a clearance. Thank goodness!
Good grief. USIS, the gift that keeps on giving.
Clearly NOT a sharp spoon to begin with. Get integrity questioned to point of written termination with stated reasons. Apply for another investigator position…and lie.
She was not cut out for BI work, or position of trust. And though dismissal from first position is bad enough…compounded by untruthfullness. Twice.
She figured all investigators were like her, they arent gonna check. Meanwhile investigator has copy of termination letter.
In this case the crime was bad enough. Two more bouts of lies? Sealed the deal. Its always the cover up.
I’ve written it before on this site, however, being reminded of USIS’s criminal activities prodded me to write it again - All of USIS’s management should have been charged in this matter and none of them should have clearances (including all of the drones that are now in management at other firms doing investigations). The concept of flushing still exists in the relentless push to close cases without any concern for quality work. I know that it has been almost 10 years since the “furlough”, however, it was a nightmare.
And yet, Bill Mixon and Chris Tillery walked unscathed from the carnage they created.
Sharon Rowlands was the leader for that train wreck starting in 2012.
Amazing how consequences seem to never exist for white collar criminals and the politically powerful and connected.
Yet FIs write the wrong address one time by mistake and Integrity and Oversight goes nuts and reads them the Riot Act.
It’s almost like our system is rigged against everyday people…