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                        DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
         DEFENSE OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS 
           
             
 
 
In the matter of: ) 
 ) 
  )  ISCR Case No. 16-01109 
 ) 
Applicant for Security Clearance ) 
 
 
Appearances 
 
For Government: Caroline E. Heintzelman, Esq., Department Counsel 
For Applicant: Jack B. Spooner, Esq. 
 
 
 
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Decision 
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HARVEY, Mark, Administrative Judge: 
 
On July 13, 2016, the Department of Defense (DOD) Consolidated Adjudications 
Facility (CAF) issued a Statement of Reasons (SOR) to Applicant detailing security 
concerns under Guideline F, financial considerations. The action was taken under 
Executive Order (EO) 10865, Safeguarding Classified Information within Industry 
(February 20, 1960), as amended; DOD Directive 5220.6, Defense Industrial Personnel 
Security Clearance Review Program (January 2, 1992), as amended (Directive); and the 
Adjudicative Guidelines for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified Information 
(AG), which became effective on September 1, 2006.  
 
Applicant responded to the SOR on August 16, 2016, and requested a hearing 
before an administrative judge. The case was assigned to me on November 1, 2016. 
The hearing was held as scheduled on December 5, 2016. On December 5, 2016, after 
the hearing, I proposed that this case was appropriate for a summary disposition in 
Applicant’s favor. Department Counsel did not object. On December 13, 2016, I 
received a copy of the transcript. 
 
Applicant was in a bad relationship with her boyfriend, and it has taken her 
several years to extricate herself from this relationship. She acknowledged that she 
made some poor decisions, especially by providing financial support to her boyfriend. 
 
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She accrued seven unpaid debts totaling about $81,202. In March 2015, she began 
making monthly $1,770 payments to her creditors. Over the next 21 months, she 
reduced her debt total to about $46,000.  She paid, settled, and established payment 
plans for all of the debts alleged in the SOR. She has a plan to resolve her financial 
problems, and she has taken significant action to implement that plan. Based on the 
record evidence as a whole, I conclude that the security concerns are mitigated under 
the following mitigating conditions: AG ¶¶ 20(a), 20(b), 20(c), and 20(d).  
 
The concerns over Applicant’s history of financial problems do not create doubt 
about her current reliability, trustworthiness, good judgment, and ability to protect 
classified information. In reaching this conclusion, I weighed the evidence as a whole 
and considered if the favorable evidence outweighed the unfavorable evidence. I also 
gave due consideration to the whole-person concept. Accordingly, I conclude that she 
met her ultimate burden of persuasion to show that it is clearly consistent with the 
national interest to grant her eligibility for access to classified information. This case is 
decided for Applicant.  
 
 
 
________________________ 
Mark Harvey 
Administrative Judge