Personnel Security Hearing (PSH)

Personnel Security; Access Authorization Not Granted; Guideline F (Financial Considerations) and Guideline J (Criminal Conduct)

On July 13 2020, an Administrative Judge determined that an individual's access authorization under 10 C.F.R. Part 710 should not be granted. The Individual is employed by a DOE contractor in a position that requires him to hold a DOE security clearance. In applying for his clearance, the Individual completed a Questionnaire for National Security Positions (QNSP) in October 2018. In response to the QNSP's financial questions, the Individual indicated that, in the last seven years, he suffered financial difficulties. Specifically, he noted that he was over 120 days delinquent on particular debts; particular unpaid bills had been turned over to collection agencies; and certain accounts had been charged off due to his failure to pay. Subsequently, the Local Security Office (LSO) asked the Individual to complete a Letter of Interrogatory (LOI), dated June 2019. The LSO determined that the Individual had two outstanding charge off accounts totaling $29,955 and three medical collection accounts totaling $2,507. It additionally found that the Individual had engaged in ten instances of criminal conduct, spanning over a decade. During the hearing, the Individual testified that he had settled with the creditor with regard to one charge off account, but he had not yet resolved the remaining charge off account and did not feel that he was obligated to do so. With regard to his medical collection accounts, the Individual stated that he had established a payment plan with the creditor for two of the accounts and showed proof of one payment, but he had not yet made contact with the creditor with regard to the remaining medical collection account. Turning to his criminal conduct, the Individual acknowledged the truth of many of the incidences and attributed many of his criminal actions to his overuse of alcohol. The Administrative Judge ultimately determined that the Individual had not resolved the security concerns associated with Guideline F and Guideline J. Accordingly, she concluded that the Individual's access authorization should not be granted. OHA Case No.PSH-20-0035 (Katie Quintana).

Personnel Security; Access Authorization Not Granted; Guideline E (Personal Conduct), Guideline H (Drug Involvement)

On July 13, 2020, an Administrative Judge determined that an Individual should not be granted access authorization under 10 C.F.R. Part 710. The Individual is employed by a DOE contractor and an applicant for a DOE security clearance. During investigation, the DOE obtained information that the Individual failed to list a collection account and several, multi-decade old criminal charges in his Questionnaire for National Security Positions. The DOE also obtained information that indicated he had been using an illegal substance while he held a prior military security clearance and that he was terminated by a prior employer in 2015 for using marijuana while he possessed a security clearance and after  aving previously signed a DOE Drug Certification.

During the hearing, the Administrative Judge found that the Individual's testimony regarding some of the above incidents was not credible. The Administrative Judge remained concerned with the Individual's inability to recall certain events while remembering others very clearly. The Administrative Judge also focused on the Individual's conduct in relation to the 2015 marijuana incident as a basis for a present concern regarding the Individual's credibility, trustworthiness, and judgment. Consequently, the Administrative Judge found that the Individual failed to mitigate the Guideline E and H concerns. As such, the Administrative Judge concluded that the Individual should not be granted access authorization. OHA Case No. PSH-20-0027 (James P. Thompson III).