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               DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
     DEFENSE OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS 
 
 
 
 
In the matter of:  ) 
 ) 
    )    ISCR Case No. 17-02524 
   ) 
Applicant for Security Clearance  ) 
 
 
Appearances 
 
For Government: Tovah Minster, Esq., Department Counsel 
For Applicant: Pro se 
 
 
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Decision 
______________ 
 
 
Curry, Marc E., Administrative Judge: 
 
 On September 26, 2017 the Department of Defense Consolidated Adjudications 
Facility (DOD CAF) issued a Statement of Reasons (SOR) to Applicant, alleging several 
delinquent debts and explaining why they generate security concerns under Guideline F, 
financial considerations. The DOD CAF took the action 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 National Security Adjudicative 
Guidelines (AG) effective for any adjudication made on or after June 8, 2017. 
 
Applicant answered the SOR on October 17, 2017, admitting all of the allegations 
and requesting a hearing. The case was assigned to me on May 10, 2018. On June 5, 
2018, the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals issued a notice of hearing, scheduling 
Applicant’s case for July 10, 2018. The hearing was held as scheduled. I considered 
Applicant’s testimony, and I received five Government exhibits (GE 1 – GE 5), and 18 
Applicant exhibits (AE A-AE R).  
 
I received the transcript on July 19, 2018. On August 16, 2018, after reviewing the 
transcript and the exhibits, I notified Department Counsel of my intention to issue a 
 
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summary disposition, granting Applicant’s security clearance. On August 21, 2018, 
Department Counsel informed me that she had no objection. 
 
 Applicant is a 28-year-old single woman with one child, age eight. Since 2015, she 
has been working for a defense contractor as a secretary. She had her child shortly after 
finishing high school. The child’s father failed to pay child support. Unable to complete 
college and with no quality employment prospects, Applicant struggled to make ends meet, 
working menial jobs while raising her child. Consequently, she fell behind on her debts, 
incurring approximately $32,000 in delinquencies, and triggering the application of AG ¶ 
19(a) and AG ¶ 19(c).  
 
 Applicant has been gradually paying her delinquent debts since gaining the 
secretarial job in 2015. After years of attempting to persuade her ex-boyfriend to pay child 
support, she sued him, successfully obtaining a $23,000 judgment in April 2018. Her ex-
boyfriend paid the judgment, as ordered. (AE F)  Using this money, Applicant satisfied all of 
the debts in their entirety, except subparagraph 1.i, a student loan that she is satisfying 
through a payment plan. She has retained a credit counselor to help manage her finances 
and ensure that her financial problems do not recur.  
 
 I conclude that the mitigating conditions set forth in AG ¶¶ 20(b), 20(c), and 20(e) 
apply. Applicant has mitigated the security concern. 
 
 
 
_____________________ 
Marc E. Curry 
Administrative Judge