PSH-24-0008 - In the Matter of Personnel Security Hearing

On January 9, 2024, an Administrative Judge determined that an Individual should not be granted access authorization under 10 C.F.R. Part 710. The Individual signed and submitted a Questionnaire for National Security Positions (QNSP) in connection with seeking access authorization. The Individual disclosed on the QNSP that he had been charged with a drug-related offense in 2012. However, a background investigation of the Individual revealed that he had failed to disclose numerous instances in which he was arrested or cited for unlawful conduct, including drug -related offenses and domestic violence, as well as financial delinquencies, termination from prior employment for rule violations, and extensive illegal drug use. At the hearing, the Individual provided evidence that he did not owe one of the debts he failed to disclose on the QNSP, argued that he did not commit the most recent alleged act of criminal conduct, and asserted that his criminal conduct was unlikely to recur due to changes in his lifestyle. The Administrative Judge credited some of the Individual's claims, but determined that the Individual had not adequately explained his failure to fully disclose his criminal conduct before being confronted with the results of the background investigation and that recent behaviors by the Individual suggested that he had not resolved the unreliability or lack of judgment that led him to commit criminal conduct in the past. Therefore, the Administrative Judge concluded that the Individual had not resolved the security concerns asserted by the local security office under Guidelines E or J, and therefore determined that he should not be granted access authorization. ( OHA Case No. PSH-24-0008, Harmonick)