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

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In 2015 the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) Board held 996 hearings for appeals on adverse security clearance determinations or eligibility for placement into public trust positions. As was the case in the previous year, analysis of the types of issues involved showed that cases with financial and

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Security Clearance Process

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One of the items included in the 2016 omnibus appropriations bill is the Enhanced Personnel Security Program. Why is this significant? Because it will direct agencies to screen social media sites twice within every 5 years as a part of the continuous evaluation process. The Office of the Director of

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Background Investigations

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Could it be true? For years I have argued to anyone who would listen, that OPM should not have been given responsibility for national security background investigations. As a security professional in various roles over a number of years, I have seen how the government has allowed human resources managers

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Security Clearance Denial

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It truly is amazing how an individual’s perspective on situations and life’s events can become totally skewed and out of sync with actual reality. In a recent Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals (DOHA) case the applicant, a former military service member, filled out the SF-86 and indicated that he had served

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