The year has passed and with all of the changes in background investigation and security clearance realm it seems apt to label 2019 as the year of security clearance and background investigation reform. Reinvestigations are a thing of the past; Continuous Evaluation (CE) and Trusted Workforce 2.0 are the new buzzwords; the new Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) took over from the Defense Security Service and National Background Investigations Bureau. All of this occurred while keeping the flow of new security clearance investigations going. The massive amount of planning and coordination needed to pull this off was challenging to say the least, but things seem to have smoothed out and processes are improving. On the adjudication side of the house (posted through the end of October) the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals heard 1,066 initial DoD clearance denial appeals. Below is a breakdown by adjudicative category of the types of issues involved resulting in initial denial (note – many cases had multiple issues):

Adjudicative Guideline Guideline A: Allegiance to the U.S 1 Guideline B: Foreign Influence 135 Guideline C: Foreign Preference 13 Guideline D: Sexual Behavior 20 Guideline E: Personal Conduct 211 Guideline F: Financial Considerations 522 Guideline G: Alcohol Consumption 61 Guideline H: Drug Involvement 75 Guideline I: Psychological Conditions 17 Guideline J: Criminal Conduct 63 Guideline K: Handling Protected Information 14 Guideline L: Outside Activities 2 Guideline M: Use of IT Systems 10 Outcome Appeals with a favorable decision 303 Denied appeals 742 Favorable decision reversed 9 Case remanded back to the agency 12