PSH-21-0089 - In the Matter of Personnel Security Hearing

On October 29, 2021, an Administrative Judge determined that the Individual's access authorization under 10 C.F.R. Part 710 should not be granted. The Individual is employed as a DOE contractor in a position that requires him to hold a DOE security clearance. During its investigation, the Local Security Office (LSO) received potentially derogatory information. In a Notification Letter, the LSO alleged, under Guideline E (Personal Conduct), that the Individual omitted the fact that he had been awarded a Bachelor's degree from a university in two Questionnaires for National Security Positions (QNSP) electronic forms.

At the hearing, the Individual denied purposely omitting the fact that he had earned a Bachelor's degree. The university that granted the degree did so without the Individual attending classes either on campus or virtually. The Individual testified that he had submitted his prior education records to the university, and it deemed him as having met the requirements for the degree. His omission of his degree on both QNSPs was claimed to be inadvertent. Nonetheless, other evidence in the record indicated that he had include this degree in a resume for a prior position. He also claimed that other omissions in the QNSPs, not cited in the notification letter, were also inadvertent and established the inadvertent nature of the omission of his Bachelor's degree.

The Administrative Judge determined that there was significant evidence in the record casting doubt regarding the inadvertent nature of this omission. Additionally, the Administrative Judge found that the Individual may have been lax regarding the need for accuracy in the QNSPs. Given this, he could not find that the Guideline E security concerns had been fully resolved. Consequently, based on the testimony of all witnesses and the evidence submitted, the Administrative Judge concluded that the Individual's access authorization should not be granted. (Richard A. Cronin, Jr.).