I recently had my DOE L clearance suspended after having a DOD TS and DOE Q clearance for 15 years. Here is the timeline of events related to the suspension:
February 2020: Was charged with my first DUI. Had no previous record of any alcohol related offense or any other serious offense for that matter. I was in the process of filling out paperwork for reinvestigation when charged. I immediately reported this as required both verbally and written.
April 2020: Wrote a letter of interrogatory response.
January 4, 2021: Had to go on short term disability due to a severe infection in my wrist following a surgery. Had to receive IV antibiotics 3 times a day to try to avoid amputation.
January 15, 2021: Received a call that I needed to go meet with a psychologist to determine if I was fit to hold a clearance. I indicated to the person that I would go if it was allowed but was not sure if it was allowed because I was on short term disability. Was instructed to go meet with the psychologist. I asked if I could move the time of the appointment so I could make it back for my IV therapy. The person assured me that it would not take any longer then 25 to 30 minutes. The letter I received indicated not to plan anything after the appointment because additional testing may be required. When I asked about this, I was assured that would not be needed. The appointment lasted almost 90 minutes and was then told that after I drove the hour to get IV therapy that I would need to drive the hour back to a lab to get blood and uranalysis testing. I spoke with my manager about this because I was not happy. They originally said I could come back the next morning but then that was changed to Monday morning because the lab was closed the following day. I returned first thing Monday morning and got the lab tests. I came back to work towards the end of February once the infection was gone.
May 2021: Received email that my reinvestigation had gone thru. I was surprised because I was never interviewed and neither were any of my references listed in my SF86.
August 2021: Was walked off the jobsite and put on unpaid leave because of the suspension of my security clearance. Was told that I would not know why for 30 days until I received the information from DOE. I immediately requested the report from the psychologist based on the freedom of information act. I also immediately started looking for other work because I had kids to support. When I received the report from the psychologist, I could not believe how he had lied about statements I had made and basically had only derogatory remarks about me. The report even started out with a false statement about who I was employed by and it just got worse. His main complaints were that the police report did not match the report I made immediately following the incident. I had explained to him that my report was exactly as I remembered the event. Due to a reaction of a prescribed medication, I must have blacked out for a good portion of the events. I was an FSO at my previous employer and always instructed our cleared personnel to answer everything truthfully. It makes no sense why I would try to lie about the events when I knew they would be getting the police report. I was as surprised as anyone when I read the police report and I told this to the doctor. The second item was that he asked me when the last time was that I had drank any alcohol. I told him that I had a few cocktails during the holidays (plural, meaning xmas and new years) which would have been about 3 weeks prior. In his report he stated that I said the last time was during Thanksgiving. That was a complete lie. The blood tests that I took can detect alcohol back as far as 4 weeks, so he said I was lying that it had been two months since drinking. He also implied that I tried to push the lab tests to the following Monday in order to clean up. The last thing that really pissed me off was that he asked me about what was wrong with my wrist so I told him. In his report he acted as though I was looking for some sort of sympathy. I am tempted to sue for lost wages because I really do not think they should have sent me there while I was on short term disability. I was also very proactive and asked my lawyer for the court appointed psychiatrist’s number. I called her and she evaluated me and gave me a score of 0-1 on a 0-5 scale meaning that I was low risk for alcohol abuse and that she would recommend I attend 8 hours of alcohol classes based on that evaluation. I completed those 8 hours prior to ever going to court for the violation. I also used the company’s self help website and book an appointment with a counselor that specializes in alcohol abuse. after a 2 hour session, I asked what I need to do to schedule the next appointment and he said he didn’t think I needed any additional appointments because he felt like I had a good understanding of why it happened and he did not feel that it would happen again. Both of these reports were drastically different from what the DOE appointed psychologist had to say. I would bet that this guy never has put out a favorable report on anyone.
Do I have a case for lost wages?
I ended up with a much better job because of this but I do not feel like I was treated fairly and I did miss out on 6 weeks of pay minus the tiny amount of unemployment I received.