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 Process

The Department of Defense (DoD) is rolling out a new pilot program that will monitor current DoD security clearance holder online activity and pair that data up with other known data points in order to develop algorithms that determine normal patterns of user behavior. This consolidated data will then enable

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Adjudication

The number of background investigations with psychological or mental health issues continue to rise and DoD personnel security adjudicators are having to collaborate with mental health professionals to evaluate the information. DoD’s Consolidated Adjudication Facility (DoD CAF) has staff psychologists available to consult with adjudicators and help review assessments completed

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Obtaining Security Clearance

Many on this forum have described their own personal history of illegal drug use and then ask for an opinion on how long they have to wait to have a chance at getting granted a security clearance. No one can answer that with certainty as many factors are involved and

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Security Clearance Denial

The Department of Energy (DOE) Personnel Security Program has a reputation as one of the better ones across the Federal government. Background investigators actually prefer working DOE cases because of the level of professionalism, courtesy, and cooperation from the applicants, their co-workers, supervisors, and even neighbors. DOE ingrains security awareness into their

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