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

More and more often, on all levels of background investigations I see applicants who fail to disclose required information. Some attribute it to oversight and failing to thoroughly read the questions and others claim an unfamiliarity with filling out government forms. Regardless, all applicants must check the box on the

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Cybersecurity

A few weeks ago, security clearance holders started getting emails that looked like they came from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) that referenced the collection of information needed from them on an “SF-86F” (which does not exist) or SF86. In reality, it is a sophisticated malicious phishing email

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Adjudication

A large number of the Department of Energy (DOE) security clearance appeals cases involve denials under Guideline G – Alcohol Consumption. As such, the DOE has a staff of psychologists on hand that evaluate security clearance applicants for various psychological disorders, to include Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD). Just last month, the

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Security Clearance Denial

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

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