Many federal government employees are required to hold or be eligible to hold security clearances due to the nature of their work. In the federal government, security clearances add an additional layer of complication to workplace requirements, and when employees are faced with an allegation that may affect their continued ability to hold a security clearance, lots of questions and confusion are bound to arise.
For Department of Defense employees, the Department of Defense Consolidated Adjudication Facility (DoDCAF) is primarily responsible for issuing security clearances to employees. In making security clearance determinations, the DoDCAF relies upon certain adjudicative guidelines pertaining to certain types of behavior that may give rise to a concern about a person’s ability to hold a security clearance. The adjudicative guidelines include Personal Conduct, Financial Considerations, Alcohol Consumption, Drug Involvement, Criminal Conduct, and a number of other items. If the DoDCAF determines that one or more adjudicative guidelines may be applicable to a certain employee or applicant, the DoDCAF will issue a “Letter of Intent” to revoke or deny the person’s security clearance eligibility. Every Letter of Intent includes a “Statement of Reasons” specifying the adjudicative guidelines that are called into question and the facts giving rise to the Letter of Intent. The employee is then given the opportunity to respond in writing to the Letter of Intent by explaining any and all mitigating conditions and providing relevant documentation to support a finding that any security concern has been sufficiently mitigated.
If the DoDCAF ultimately decides to revoke or deny a person’s security clearance eligibility, the person will typically be able to elect to proceed to a personal appearance before an Administrative Judge who works for the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA). The assigned Administrative Judge will then conduct a hearing and render a recommendation to the DoD Personnel Security Appeals Board (PSAB), which will then make a final determination regarding the person’s eligibility to hold a security clearance.
It is important to take the security clearance process very seriously from start to finish, as an employee’s ability to hold a security clearance is often a condition of their employment. If the DoDCAF issues a final decision ultimately revoking or denying an employee’s security clearance eligibility, such a decision can lead to adverse action procedures within that employee’s federal employment.
If you have been issued a Letter of Intent to revoke or deny your security clearance eligibility and would like to discuss your situation with an attorney, please call the law firm of Bonney, Allenberg, & O’Reilly, P.C. to set up an initial consultation with one of our attorneys.