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

Claiming hours worked when you don’t actually perform the work is never a good idea, yet it happens quite frequently with defense contractors working on government projects. A Raytheon systems engineer, who had a Secret clearance, had a habit of disappearing every Friday even though he claimed to be working during

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Security Clearance Denial

The adjudicative guidelines use mitigating factors in making security clearance determinations. One of those factors is the amount of time elapsed since the conduct occurred. In rare instances even administrative judges get it wrong in applying mitigating factors, which is exactly what happened in a security clearance appeal last month. The Defense

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Security Clearance Denial

I have noticed an uptick in the number of Defense Office of Hearing an Appeals (DOHA) cases involving security clearance applicants who unwittingly fell for scams involving foreign nationals from China. How does this happen? Here are two actual DOHA case scenarios: This security clearance applicant meets a Chinese woman online in

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Adjudication

The Senate Intelligence Committee approved a provision for the 2023 Intelligence Authorization Act that will amend current language regarding past marijuana use which is a disqualifier for some federal agencies like the Drug Enforcement Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, and a few others. This follows a similar trend in policy shifts

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