1 
 
                                                              
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
DEFENSE OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS 
           
             
 
 
In the matter of: ) 
 ) 
 -------------------------------------  )  ISCR Case No. 16-01218 
 ) 
Applicant for Security Clearance ) 
 
 
Appearances 
 
For Government: Aubrey M. De Angelis, Esq., Department Counsel 
For Applicant: Pro se   
 
 
 
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Decision 
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LEONARD, Michael H., Administrative Judge: 
 
Applicant completed and submitted a Questionnaire for National Security 
Positions (SF 86 format) on May 7, 2015. This document is commonly known as a 
security clearance application. Thereafter, on October 6, 2016, after reviewing the 
application and the information gathered during a background investigation, the 
Department of Defense Consolidated Adjudications Facility, Fort Meade, Maryland, sent 
Applicant a statement of reasons (SOR), explaining it was unable to find that it was 
clearly consistent with the national interest to grant him eligibility for access to classified 
information.1 The SOR is similar to a complaint. It detailed the factual reasons for the 
action under the security guideline known as Guideline F for financial considerations. 
Applicant timely answered the SOR; he denied the three delinquent debts alleged in the 
SOR on the basis that the debts were resolved; and he requested a hearing.  
                                                          
1 This action was taken under Executive Order (E.O.) 10865, Safeguarding Classified Information within 
Industry (February 20, 1960), as amended, as well as Department of Defense Directive 5220.6, Defense 
Industrial Personnel Security Clearance Review Program (January 2, 1992), as amended (Directive). In 
addition, the Adjudicative Guidelines for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified Information (AG), 
effective within the Defense Department on September 1, 2006, apply here. The AG were published in 
the Federal Register and codified in 32 C.F.R. § 154, Appendix H (2006).  
 
 
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The case was assigned to me on February 7, 2017. The hearing was held as 
scheduled on April 25, 2017. After the hearing was completed, I proposed to the parties 
that the case was appropriate for a summary disposition in Applicant’s favor.2 
Department Counsel had ten days to object to a summary disposition, and on May 1, 
2017, Department Counsel stated they had no objection. The transcript of the hearing 
was received on May 4, 2017.  
 
The pertinent facts are as follows: Applicant, a retired U.S. Air Force master 
sergeant, experienced financial problems resulting in the three delinquent debts in the 
SOR. He had financial problems due to an unexpected job layoff in 2012, which was 
followed by periods of unemployment and underemployment until he secured his 
current job with a defense contractor in 2015. He presented reliable documentation 
showing the charged-off second mortgage loan for $89,522 was paid in full in May 
2016; the charged-off credit card account for $437 was satisfied in May 2016; and the 
charged-off credit card account for $4,695 was paid as of October 2016.   
 
In light of the record evidence as a whole, I conclude that Applicant presented 
sufficient evidence to explain, extenuate, or mitigate the facts admitted by him or proven 
by Department Counsel. I also conclude that the security concerns are resolved under 
the following mitigating conditions: AG ¶¶ 20(b), 20(c), and 20(d). I further conclude that 
he met his ultimate burden of persuasion to show that it is clearly consistent with the 
national interest to grant him eligibility for access to classified information. This case is 
decided for Applicant.  
 
  
 
Michael H. Leonard 
Administrative Judge 
                                                          
2 A summary disposition is simply a procedural device that allows for a speedy, more streamlined 
decision when the undisputed evidence justifies a favorable clearance decision for an applicant and there 
are no foreseeable appellate issues.