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

Accurate timekeeping relies heavily on the integrity of the person filing hours worked. If supervisors are not paying attention there is always a possibility of an employee taking advantage to claim hours worked when they actually did not. A recent Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals case highlighted the danger

Read More
Polygraph

In one of the more unusual Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals cases, a clearance holder had his eligibility revoked after a polygraph interview revealed he had engaged in sexual services of prostitutes, both in the United States and overseas, on and off for over 12 years while holding a security clearance.

Read More
Obtaining Security Clearance

Many young people experiment with illegal drugs such as marijuana and cocaine while in high school and college. Peer pressure and lack of maturity are two reasons for this. Foe security clearance applicants that counts in your favor as social environment and age at the time of use could help

Read More
Obtaining Security Clearance

With an increase in the number of states who have either legalized marijuana for medicinal and recreational use, or have decriminalized it, we have also seen an uptick in the number of security clearance applicants who admit to using it as recently as the day before submitting their SF-86. Most

Read More