PSH-21-0097 - In the Matter of Personnel Security Hearing

On January 7, 2022, an Administrative Judge (AJ) determined that an Individual's access authorization should not be restored under 10 C.F.R. Part 710. The Individual is an employee of a DOE contractor in a position that requires the possession of a security clearance. During the reinvestigation process, the DOE Local Security Office (LSO) learned that the Individual failed to file federal income tax returns for 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. As a result, the LSO informed the Individual that it possessed reliable information that created substantial doubt regarding his eligibility to possess a security clearance.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the AJ determined that the LSO appropriately invoked Guidelines F and that the Individual failed to resolve the security concerns because (1) the Individual had not yet received financial counseling or met, in any substantive way, with the accountant whom he plans to work with to resolve his tax issues, (2) there was no clear indication the problem is being resolved because the Individual had not yet contacted the Internal Revenue Service or otherwise taken sufficient action to initiate the process of resolving his tax-related issues, and (3) he failed to file a federal tax return for 2020.

Accordingly, the AJ concluded that the Individual had not resolved the Guideline F security concerns. OHA Case No. PSH-21-0097 (James P. Thompson III)