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

A DoD security clearance applicant who applied for a job requiring access to sensitive compartmented information underwent two polygraph examinations that ended up sinking his eligibility for a security clearance. He subsequently appealed to the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals. Here are the highlights of the case. During his

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Polygraph

Previously, polygraphs were already the part of getting security clearance eligibility that took the longest with the Intelligence Community agencies. This was due to polygraph examiner shortages and scheduling backlogs which included having to test some individuals multiple times when the results were inconclusive or deception was found. Some applicants

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Security Clearance Denial

A recent Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals case involved a DoD contractor who was denied security clearance eligibility by the DoD CAS based on security concerns involving foreign influence, misuse of IT, sexual behavior, and personal conduct. He subsequently appealed to DOHA. Here are the highlights: The contractor retired

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Security Clearance Process

By now, everyone has seen the news about the current administration’s attempts to downsize the government workforce by offering civil servants “the fork in the road” option called Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). It is run by the Office of Personnel Management and basically, anyone who took the offer was put

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