On January 31, 2022, an OHA Administrative Judge (AJ) issued a decision in which she determined that an Individual's DOE access authorization should be granted. To support the Guideline F security concerns, the LSO relied upon the fact the Individual has five outstanding collection accounts totaling
$10,648; the Individual has three unpaid charge-off accounts totaling $71,984; the Individual has three repossession accounts totaling $311,777; the Individual has a November 2014 court-ordered judgment against him for $1.3 million owed to his ex-wife for nonpayment of his marital settlement agreement, and he admitted in his Letter of Interrogatory (LOI) dated April 2020 that he will never have the ability to pay the debt; the Individual owes $ 40,000 in an unpaid court-ordered judgment for business debts related to his company; and the Individual admitted that he owes $ 13,000 for delinquent child support payments. Ex. 1 at 5-6. The SSC also cited the following information: in 2016, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filed a lien against the Individual for an unknown amount of money not exceeding $1 million for unpaid taxes; the Individual owes a total of approximately $ 500, 000 to the IRS for unpaid payroll taxes for tax years 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017; the Individual owes $9,013.55 to the IRS for unpaid personal income taxes for tax year 2018; the Individual owes approximately $298,000 to the state tax authority (the State) for business taxes for tax years 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017; the Individual owes $4,200 to the State for unpaid personal income taxes for tax year 2018; and the Individual admitted in August 2019, that he moved to another state to avoid repaying his debts.
The Individual presented evidence that he had resolved his financial difficulties. He testified that most of his outstanding debts were involved in the bankruptcy of his company. He has a payment plan with the IRA for his outstanding debt. The Individual's personal bankruptcy has consolidated the remainder of his debts, including his state tax obligations. He has been working toward becoming debt free. In addition, the Individual and his wife have been implementing strategies recommended by a debt management program, including driving older, used vehicles and renting a house from relative instead of paying a mortgage. Further, the Individual provided evidence that the Individual and his wife are living within their means, meeting their financial obligations, and maintaining a sufficient monthly surplus that is conducive to achieving their goal of becoming debt free. Therefore, the AJ determined that the Individual's security clearance should be granted. (OHA Case No. PSH-21-0102, Fishman)