Top Secret Investigation question

If anyone can give me guidance I would truly appreciate it. Two jobs ago and two years ago, my employer put in for a TS. I no longer need the TS. At the time, I had a Secret, which I have had since 2008. Through the course of my investigation, apparently my investigator thought i “misled” him somewhere saying that I had smoke marijuana a certain number of times, but my application said something else. The difference is literally 3 times or 4 times in the past 7 years. Anyways, I now have a case that is being sent to DOHA and I have to appear before an AJ. My main concern now is that not only will I lose my TS, but my Secret will be terminated as well. I currently work at a job with the Coast Gaurd, which only requires a Public Trust. I am unsure how DHS and DoD investigations intersect.

ANYWAYS, long story short, can i just tell them i no longer need my TS? Am I already screwed? In my SOR, I admitted to one question stating I used marijuana, but denied two statements saying that I deliberately deceived the investigators. PLEASE HELP!

If your job requires a PT and not a TS or Secret, this will work itself out naturally, both of these clearances will drop.

However, by your own admission…you illegally used MJ 3 or 4 times while possessing a clearance. You knew it was not legal. You demonstrated a willingness to not follow the rules…not live up to the standards required for the public to trust you…so I believe you may very well not qualify for a public trust. Merlin is correct if your position does not require a clearance they should pull back the SF86. But you are well beyond that point. They know you used MJ. It is against the law, regardless on any of our positions on the use. You did not live up to the requirements of a clearance…can we trust you to live up to the standards of this position? By your own demonstrated behavior you did not do this.

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Then why waste time and send to a judge for adjudication and waste my time if they are just going to deny? Like i stated before 2 of the three statements on the SOR discussed delibereately lying, which i did not. Why go before a judge at all?

If you are appearing before an ALJ, it sounds like you have already been denied and you have appealed the decision. This is your chance to mitigate the use and retain your clearance. As noted above, you have already violated the trust placed in you and now you need to show that you are trustworthy.

You can, I believe, withdraw your appeal but it sounds like you have already been denied and that your Secret is at risk already.

I think that a better explanation of what you put on your SF85 and what the investigator thinks happened would help here.

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Also, I have retained counsel to look over my case and represent me on my hearing, I understand that my odds are much better with an attorney.

What happened was that on my original eQIP application, i forgot to add a 3rd use of marijuana back in 2013. I clarified it with the investigator when you interviewed me. It was not an intentional misleading, and I said as much. To make things more frustrating, the original investigator on my case quit and I was interviewed again and had to again say that I had used marijuana 3 times in the past seven years, and that I did not mention the first time on my application. my last use was in April 2017, and I have put on the SOR that I have no intention of using again.

Because we all have the right to present our case to a judge. If I were you, I would consult a clearance attorney.

It sounds, to me, like your problem isn’t that you missed one use when filling out your SF86 but that you used while cleared. This is a much bigger deal.

It doesn’t matter that you don’t need the TS because your S is past the reinvestigation point. Even without the TS application, you would be investigated at this point.

Your lawyer should be able to put up a strong argument, depending on the situations surrounding your use but you still might have a difficult time mitigating three or four instances over time. It shows that you repeat the same mistakes and flaunt the rules.

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Well, I hope I have a decent shot. My record otherwise is squeaky clean, no criminal record at all, one speeding ticket in 20 years, outstanding credit, Veteran (not that that matters), and have held a clearance for 10 years. Like I have already said, my SoR states that I have no intention of using again. I hope I can put together a good case.

I hope your lawyer is a good one . . . You still don’t seem to recognize the problem. You have held a clearance for 10 years but you have violated that trust every 2.5 to 3 years. Your SOR states that you have no intension of using again but you made that same promise ten years ago when you were first cleared.

The truth is that, with an attorney, you will very likely retain your clearance. But, if you don’t take responsibility for your actions, you don’t really deserve it and you might find it difficult to keep it for another ten.

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This is so cut and dry. You violated the rules, your clearance should be pulled. There are too many people who DO NOT violate the rules that could use these jobs. You knowingly violated the rules, your clearance should be terminated immediately.

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Yeah, I thought there was more to it. You normally don’t get denied for drugs that long ago. Your issue is you did it while cleared as the above statement said. You can try and fight it but you haven’t changed the behavior. Did you self-report the drug use of the drugs in 2017? You have to mitigate circumstances and your promise to not use again will not work

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We have seen some with significant drug use maintain their clearance because their attorney came loaded for bear. The references to deliberately telling lies, likely speaks to how many SF86’s you filled out claiming no drug use. And as several stated above, using while cleared…is treated more harshly than prior to clearing. One can have an otherwise squeaky clean record and still have been one who also used drugs. They are not mutually exclusive with exception of the definition of “squeaky”.

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It’s standard procedure at DOHA to check JPAS/DISS just prior to a hearing. No one wants to unnecessarily waste the time and money involved in any further clearance processing. There’s also a paragraph in the letter that accompanied your SOR. It says:

“If your employer no longer requires that you have access to classified information at any level or you no longer require a trustworthiness determination, your employer’s security officer must indicate the separation in the Joint Clearance and Access Verification System (JCAVS). Upon confirmation of the separation, these proceedings will be canceled and any existing security clearance or trustworthiness determination you have will be administratively withdrawn.”

Since you no longer work for a DOD contractor and should have been separated in JPAS from your former employer, your case will go into a “Loss of Jurisdiction” status and no hearing will take place.

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