1 
 
 
                                                              
                           DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
         DEFENSE OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS 
           
             
 
 
In the matter of: ) 
 ) 
  )  ADP Case No. 15-08830 
  ) 
Applicant for Public Trust Position ) 
 
Appearances 
 
For Government: Benjamin Dorsey, Department Counsel 
For Applicant: Pro se 
 
 
______________ 
 
 
Decision 
______________ 
 
KILMARTIN, Robert J., Administrative Judge: 
 
Applicant did not mitigate the financial considerations trustworthiness concerns. 
Applicant’s eligibility for access to sensitive information in a public trust position is 
denied. 
 
       Statement of the Case 
 
On June 15, 2016, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued Applicant a 
Statement of Reasons (SOR) detailing trustworthiness concerns under Guideline F, 
financial considerations. The action was taken under DOD Directive 5220.6, Defense 
Industrial Personnel Security Clearance Review Program (January 2, 1992), as 
amended (Directive), and the adjudicative guidelines (AG’s) effective within the DOD for 
SORs issued after September 1, 2006.  
 
The Director of National Intelligence issued Security Executive Agent Directive 4 
(SEAD 4) on December 10, 2016, revising the 2006 AG’s. The revised AG’s apply to all 
adjudicative decisions issued on or after June 8, 2017. This decision is based on the 
newly promulgated adjudicative guidelines effective June 8, 2107.1 
                                                          
1 Although I have decided this case under the new AG’s promulgated by Security Executive Agent 
Directive (SEAD) 4, of December 10, 2016 and effective on June 8, 2017, I have also considered the 
 
2 
 
 
Applicant timely answered the SOR, and elected to have a hearing before an 
administrative judge. Department Counsel indicated the Government was ready to 
proceed on August 26, 2017. The Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) 
issued a Notice of Hearing on June 6, 2017, scheduling the hearing on July 13, 2017. 
The case was assigned to an administrative judge on May 4, 2017, and later transferred 
to me on July 13, 2017. I conducted the hearing as scheduled on July 13, 2017. DOHA 
received the transcript of the hearing (Tr.) on July 21, 2017. 
 
 Findings of Fact 
 
 In her Answer to the SOR on August 8, 2016, Applicant admitted to filing four 
bankruptcies between 1987 and 2007. A Chapter 13 filed in June 1995 alleged in SOR 
¶ 1.b, was dismissed in March 1996 due to incomplete documentation and failure to 
make payments. Similarly, a Chapter 13 filed in November 2007 and alleged at SOR ¶ 
1.d, was dismissed in April 2008 for failure to make payments. Applicant admitted to 
most of the other allegations of delinquent debts totaling $12,676 in her Answer. She 
only denied SOR ¶ 1.k (stating she only had one account with this particular creditor). It 
is a duplicate with the debt alleged in SOR 1.e. She also denied the debt alleged at 
SOR ¶ 1.h (a $1,134 student-loan debt). She claimed to have paid this student-loan 
debt from her 2011 tax return, but she provided no substantiating documentation.  
 
Five of the remaining delinquent debts alleged in the SOR were for medical bills 
incurred at a time when she was unemployed or lacked adequate medical insurance. 
The other delinquencies resulted from credit card or consumer debts. In response to the 
vast majority of the allegations, Applicant stated that she owed these medical debts 
because she had health problems causing periods of unemployment. In addition to her 
numerous delinquent medical bills, Applicant has miscellaneous delinquent consumer 
debts. She has provided no documentation to show disputes with any of her creditors, 
or actual payments made toward a payment plan, let alone proof that any of these debts 
have been resolved. All of the alleged debts are reflected in her credit reports. After a 
thorough and careful review of the pleadings and exhibits, and her testimony, I make 
the following additional findings of fact. 
                      .    
   Applicant is 53 years old. She graduated from high school in 1982. She was 
married in 1989 and divorced in 2000. Applicant is a single mother of two sons, ages 23 
and 26, whom she put through college.4 She had various jobs including previous 
positions with federal contractors and intermittent health insurance. She voluntarily left 
the job force in 1994 to be a stay-at-home mother.5 She returned to work doing 
temporary jobs from 1996 through 2008.6 Presently, she has been employed in hospital 
                                                                                                                                                                                           
case under the former AG’s effective on September 1, 2006, and my decision would be the same under 
either version.  
 
4 Tr. at 28, 29. 
 
5 Tr. at 32. 
 
6 Tr. at 33.