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.

Obtaining Security Clearance

In 2010 the Office of Personnel Management introduced an updated Questionnaire for National Security Positions (SF-86), while at the same time it was transitioning from the hard copy to electronic submission of the form through e-QIP. Now that the transition is complete, there are still numerous questions and confusion about

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Background Investigations

Senate Passes Bill to Terminate Those Who Falsify Background Investigation Information On December 15, 2014 the Senate passed the Security Clearance Accountability, Reform, and Enhancement Act and sent it to the House of Representatives for a vote. The bill would require the Office of Personnel Management to take action against

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Security Clearance Denial

In a recent Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) case the original decision to remove a Department of the Navy employee due to his security clearance being revoked was upheld by the board. Specifically, the employee was removed for failure to maintain a top secret security clearance as a condition of

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Background Investigations

KeyPoint Government Solutions (KPGS) announced that is it has doubled its caseload following the downfall of USIS and the subsequent reassignment of their cases over to KPGS and CACI. According to a story published in FedBiz, KPGS has had to borrow $22 million in order to meet the increased workload

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