PSH-22-0020 - In the Matter of Personnel Security Hearing

On April 1, 2022, an Administrative Judge (AJ) determined that the Individual's access authorization under 10 C.F.R. Part 710 should not be restored. The Individual had a history of three alcohol - related arrests, and a DOE Psychologist found that the meet the criteria for Alcohol Use Disorder, Moderate (AUD) set forth in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fifth Edition (DSM-5) and had not been reformed or rehabilitated.   The AJ found, that despite the fact that   that the Individual had recognized the problems that his alcohol use had caused for him and his family and had abstained from alcohol use for a period of eight months, the Individual had not sufficiently shown that he was reformed or rehabilitated from his AUD to resolve the security concerns raised by his three alcohol-related arrests and AUD because the Individual still appeared to have insufficient insight into some of the potential challenges to his recovery that the future may hold (including those challenges that may arise if his wife is unable to maintain her sobriety) and did not appear sufficiently prepared for these challenges by building a professional or sobriety based support network such as AA and creating, with the assistance of substance abuse professionals, a formal written relapse prevention plan. The AJ further found that the Individual had only shown that he had abstained from alcohol use for eight months rather than the recommended 12 months, and therefore had not sufficiently demonstrated a clear and established pattern of modified consumption or abstinence

The Administrative Judge therefore concluded that the Individual's access authorization should not be restored. (OHA Case No. PSH-22-0020, Fine)