Security Clearance Process

One of the first security clearance appeal cases in 2023 for the Department of Energy (DOE) involved issues and concerns under sexual behavior, personal conduct, drug involvement, psychological conditions, and criminal conduct. The DOE contractor was issued a Letter of Interrogatory and his subsequent response did not mitigate the concerns.

In 2022 we saw big changes in the way the government vets security clearance applicants and those already cleared. Reinvestigations are a thing of the past, replaced by continuous vetting or evaluation, and the previous five tier background investigation is now three tiers with the ability to move inter-changeably from nonsensitive to

The adjudicative guidelines for national security investigations are applied the same across the board. It matters not whether it is for a Secret or Top Secret clearance. The additional checks and information gathered for the Top Secret is reviewed the same as for a Secret. Take for instance, smoking marijuana while you

Currently, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) use three different primary forms (SF85, SF85P, and SF86) and one supplementary form (SF85P-S) for applicants to fill out for initiating background investigations. As a part of reform efforts, OPM has proposed using the Personnel