Obsessive Behavior Leads to Other Than Honorable Discharge and Subsequent Clearance Denial

A security clearance applicant working for a DoD contractor on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles contract was recently denied eligibility by the DoD Central Adjudications Services based on security concerns regarding the applicant’s behavior that resulted in an “Other Than Honorable” discharge from the U.S. Naval Academy. He subsequently appealed to the Defense Office of Hearing an Appeals (DOHA). Here are the highlights of the case.

The applicant was in his 3^rd year at the Naval Academy and was tutoring a freshman female cadet in various subjects. He starting to become obsessed with her and when she told him she was not interested in a personal relationship, he starting a harassment campaign that entailed illegally accessing her social media accounts, sending a nude picture of her to himself that he found in her accounts, sending anonymous emails with harassing language, spoofing hers and her boyfriend’s emails to make it look like they were sending the emails, and sending her a picture of his genitals. During the course of several investigations conducted by the Navy, the applicant was interviewed numerous times and denied his involvement in any of the actions and actually tried to make it look like he was a victim, as well. He even wiped his phone after one interview because he knew it had incriminating evidence on it. His obsessions, lies and false claims eventually led to his discharge from the Navy in 2019.

At his DOHA hearing, the applicant presented several character witnesses, including his current COO and FSO. However, the judge noted that they all were largely unaware of the full scope of the applicant’s previous conduct, and the applicant’s claim to the judge that he was just immature at the time downplayed the seriousness of his obsessive behavior. Due to the applicant still being vulnerable to coercion should anyone find out the details about his past behavior and lingering doubts about his judgment and trustworthiness, the personal conduct concerns were not mitigated – clearance denied.