KEYWORD: Guideline H; Guideline E
DIGEST: Applicant denied drug use on his security clearance application and during a
subsequent interview.  The Judge concluded that these denials were deliberate.  Given record
evidence as to the extent of Applicant’s drug use, this conclusion is sustainable.  Adverse
decision affirmed.     
CASE NO: 08-11194.a1
DATE: 08/06/2009
DATE: August 6, 2009
In Re:
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Applicant for Security Clearance
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ISCR Case No. 08-11194
APPEAL BOARD DECISION
APPEARANCES
FOR GOVERNMENT
James B. Norman, Esq., Chief Department Counsel
FOR APPLICANT
Pro Se
The Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) declined to grant Applicant a security
clearance.  On March 6, 2009, DOHA issued a statement of reasons (SOR) advising Applicant of
the basis for that decision–security concerns raised under Guideline H (Drug Involvement) and
Guideline E (Personal Conduct) of Department of Defense Directive 5220.6 (Jan. 2, 1992, as
amended) (Directive).  Applicant requested a hearing.  On June 23, 2009, after the hearing,
1The Judge’s favorable findings under SOR subparagraphs 1(b-c) and 2(b-c) and (e) are not at issue in this
appeal.  
Administrative Judge Mark Harvey denied Applicant’s request for a security clearance.  Applicant
appealed pursuant to Directive ¶¶  E3.1.28 and E3.1.30.
We construe Applicant’s brief as  raising the following issue on appeal: whether the Judge’s
adverse security clearance decision is arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law.1  Finding no error,
we affirm.
The Judge made the following pertinent findings of fact: Applicant is a 27 year-old systems
administrator for a government contractor.  He previously held defense-related employment,
receiving a security clearance in 2003.  Applicant began using marijuana at the age of 16 and
continued to do so, on a monthly basis, until October 2008.  He used cocaine in 2006 or 2007.  On
the security clearance application (SCA) which Applicant filled out in March 2008, he was asked
if he had engaged in illegal drug use during the previous seven years and whether he had ever
engaged in illegal drug use while holding a security clearance.  The following August, Applicant
was interviewed by an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) official who was conducting his
background investigation.  Applicant told the investigator that he had never illegally used controlled
substances during the previous seven years and that he had never illegally used controlled substances
while holding a security clearance.  Applicant’s answers on the SCA and to the OPM investigator
were not true.  
In the Analysis portion of the decision, the Judge concluded that Applicant’s omissions were
deliberate, based upon the totality of the record evidence.  See ISCR Case No. 07-03307 at 5 (App.
Bd. Sep. 26, 2008).  Given record evidence as to the extent of Applicant’s drug use and the clarity
of the questions at issue here, the Judge’s conclusion is sustainable.  
After reviewing the record, the Board concludes that the Judge examined the relevant data
and articulated a satisfactory explanation for the decision, “including a ‘rational connection between
the facts found and the choice made.’”  Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass’n of the United States v. State Farm
Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43 (1983)(quoting Burlington Truck Lines, Inc. v. United States,
371 U.S. 156, 168 (1962)).  The Judge’s decision that “it is not clearly consistent with national
security to grant Applicant eligibility for a security clearance” is sustainable on this record.
Decision at 16.  See also Department of the Navy v. Egan, 484 U.S. 518, 528 (1988) (“The general
standard is that a clearance may be granted only when ‘clearly consistent with the interests of the
national security.’”).
Order
The Judge’s adverse security clearance decision is AFFIRMED.  
Signed: Michael Y. Ra’anan         
Michael Y. Ra’anan
Administrative Judge
Chairman, Appeal Board
Signed: William S. Fields              
William S. Fields
Administrative Judge
Member, Appeal Board
Signed: James E. Moody              
James E. Moody
Administrative Judge
Member, Appeal Board