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ISCR Case 23-01099 — CASE

ISCR Case 23-01099granted

Case Headnote

ISCR Case No. 23-01099

grantedJun 11, 2024· Hon. Charles C. Hale· hearing

Summary

A 51-year-old federal contractor and chief of staff was granted a security clearance despite admitted past marijuana use. The applicant voluntarily disclosed using marijuana gummies for sleep between August 2020 and September 2022, ceasing use prior to his security clearance application. This disclosure led to concerns under Guideline H (Drug Involvement), specifically regarding his use and purchase of marijuana during that period.

However, the Administrative Judge found that the applicant successfully mitigated these concerns. Key factors included his voluntary disclosure, his cessation of marijuana use before applying, and his demonstrated willingness to comply with federal law. He also showed a clear intention to abstain from future drug use, understanding the implications for his security clearance eligibility.

The Judge concluded that the applicant's limited and infrequent past marijuana use did not raise doubts about his current reliability or trustworthiness. Consequently, the security clearance was granted, affirming his eligibility for access to classified information.

Why the Applicant Prevailed

The applicant voluntarily disclosed his marijuana use and ceased prior to applying for a security clearance.
He demonstrated a clear intention to abstain from future drug use, acknowledging the implications for his security clearance.
The applicant's limited and infrequent use of marijuana did not raise questions about his current reliability or trustworthiness.

Conditions Referenced

Disqualifying

AG ¶ 25(a)raisedAny Substance Misuse
AG ¶ 25(c)raisedIllegal Possession of a Controlled Substance

Mitigating

AG ¶ 26(a)appliedBehavior Happened so Long Ago, Was Infrequent, or Unlikely to Recur
AG ¶ 26(b)appliedAcknowledgment of Drug Involvement and Established Pattern of Abstinence

Key Rule Quoted

“Eligibility for a security clearance is predicated upon the applicant meeting the criteria contained in the adjudicative guidelines.”

Procedural Posture

SOR issuedJun 6, 2023
Answer filedJun 19, 2023
Hearing heldJun 10, 2024Transferred from another Administrative Judge.
Decision dateJun 11, 2024

Cite For

Mitigation of Drug Involvement Under Guideline H
Voluntary Disclosure of Past Drug Use as a Mitigating Factor
Consideration of the Whole-person Concept in Security Clearance Decisions

Editorial summary generated for research. Not legal advice; not a prediction. Verify against the full decision before relying on any quoted language.

Standardized Decision Profile

SEAD-4 Guideline H (Drug Involvement) · descriptive summary of a decided case

Posture: Decision on RecordDecided: granted

The applicant admitted to using and purchasing marijuana with varying frequency from about August 2020 to September 2022. The judge found that the applicant's involvement with marijuana was limited in scope and nature, primarily for sleep, and that he ceased use upon realizing it could impact his security clearance eligibility. Ultimately, the judge concluded that granting the applicant eligibility for access to classified information was consistent with national security interests.

¶	Allegation	Finding	Substance / event	Use level	Response	Disqualifying (¶25)	Mitigating applied (¶26)	Mitigation
1.a	Applicant used and purchased marijuana with varying frequency from about August 2020 to about September 2022.	For Applicant	Marijuana	Occasional	Admitted	—	(a) behavior happened long ago / infrequent / unlikely to recur (b) acknowledges involvement; evidence of action; established abstinence	Documented Voluntary Disclosure Before Confrontation Claimed Abstinence Period Documented

Descriptive standardized rendering of a decided public case (Guideline H). The verbatim source decision is shown in full below.

Full decision

The complete, official text — footnotes and signatures included — is in the original PDF.

Decision text, by section

DEFENSE OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS

HEARING

APPEARANCES

______________ ______________ DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DEFENSE OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS In the matter of: ) ) ) ISCR Case No. 23-01099 ) Applicant for Security Clearance ) Appearances For Government: Tovah A. Minster, Esq., Department Counsel For Applicant: Pro se 06/11/2024

STATEMENT OF CASE

HALE, Charles C., Administrative Judge: This case involves security concerns raised under Guideline H (Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse). Eligibility for access to classified information is granted. Statement of the Case Applicant submitted a security clearance application (SCA) on January 5, 2023. The Department of Defense (DoD) sent him a Statement of Reasons (SOR) dated June 6, 2023, alleging security concerns under Guideline H. The DoD acted under Executive Order (Exec. Or.) 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 adjudicative guidelines (AG) promulgated in Security Executive Agent Directive 4, National Security Adjudicative Guidelines (December 10, 2016). Applicant answered the SOR on June 19, 2023, and requested a decision on the written record without a hearing. Department Counsel issued the Government’s file of relevant material (FORM) on July 18, 2023, including documents identified as Items 3 and 4. Applicant submitted a Response dated August 16, 2023, which consisted of a

Applicant is a 51-year-old employee of a federal contractor. He has been in senior management positions since 2001, aside from a period between 2017 and 2018 when he founded a consulting company. He is presently the chief of staff and vice president for his company. He has never held a security clearance. He is married, with two adult children, and holds a law degree. (Item 3; Answer.)

statement. The case was transferred to me from another Administrative Judge on June 10, 2024. The SOR, Applicant’s Answer, and his August 16, 2023 Response are the pleadings in the case. FORM Items 3 and 4 are admitted into evidence without objection.

FINDINGS OF FACT

In Applicant’s SOR Answer he admits the sole allegation that he used and purchased marijuana with varying frequency from about August 2020 to about September 2022. He stated and swore to five points in his Answer: 1. The gummies were purchased legally; 2. I have not had any gummies since the summer of 2022; 3. I never took any gummies while at work, or prior to work; 4. I have never purchased or used marijuana other than as noted above; and 5. I have no intention of taking any gummies (or using any marijuana product) in the future. Applicant states in his Answer that sometime around November 2021 he legally purchased under state law marijuana gummies to help him with sleep. In his SCA, he lists August of 2020 for when he started using marijuana gummies to help with sleep. He states he spent considerable time in trying to pinpoint the dates for accuracy in his Answer. He provided in his Answer a screenshot of the type of gummy, the size, and amount in the package. The screenshot shows the name of the gummy is consistent with a gummy targeting sleep. He states that he disposed of any remaining containers in September 2022, which is also when he told the security clearance investigator, he stopped using marijuana gummies. (Item 3; Item 4, Answer.) Applicant voluntarily disclosed his actions involving marijuana on his SCA and fully discussed them during his security clearance interview. (Item 3 at 34; Item 4.) He has cooperated in the security clearance process. The evidence available shows his involvement with marijuana is limited in scope and nature, to help him sleep, and that he stopped when he learned it would impact his security clearance eligibility, which he had never held previously. His disclosures indicate his willingness to follow federal law. The security clearance interview does not read consistent with a person stating an intent to use in the future but appears consistent with a statement that he has no intention “to use marijuana or any other illegal drug in the future.” (Item 3; Item 4; Answer.) Applicant has no prior history with drug use. (Item 3; Item 4.) His work history

reflects a successful employee. (Item 3.)

POLICIES

“[N]o one has a ‘right’ to a security clearance.” Department of the Navy v. Egan, 484 U.S. 518, 528 (1988). As Commander in Chief, the President has the authority to “control access to information bearing on national security and to determine whether an individual is sufficiently trustworthy to have access to such information.” Id. at 527. The President has authorized the Secretary of Defense or his designee to grant applicants eligibility for access to classified information “only upon a finding that it is clearly consistent with the national interest to do so.” Exec. Or. 10865 § 2.

Once the Government establishes a disqualifying condition by substantial evidence, the burden shifts to the applicant to rebut, explain, extenuate, or mitigate the Eligibility for a security clearance is predicated upon the applicant meeting the criteria contained in the adjudicative guidelines. These guidelines are not inflexible rules of law. Instead, recognizing the complexities of human behavior, an administrative judge applies these guidelines in conjunction with an evaluation of the whole person. An administrative judge’s overarching adjudicative goal is a fair, impartial, and commonsense decision. An administrative judge must consider all available and reliable information about the person, past and present, favorable and unfavorable. The Government reposes a high degree of trust and confidence in persons with access to classified information. This relationship transcends normal duty hours and endures throughout off-duty hours. Decisions include, by necessity, consideration of the possible risk that the applicant may deliberately or inadvertently fail to safeguard classified information. Such decisions entail a certain degree of legally permissible extrapolation about potential, rather than actual, risk of compromise of classified information. Clearance decisions must be made “in terms of the national interest and shall in no sense be a determination as to the loyalty of the applicant concerned.” Exec. Or. 10865 § 7. Thus, a decision to deny a security clearance is merely an indication the applicant has not met the strict guidelines the President and the Secretary of Defense have established for issuing a clearance. Initially, the Government must establish, by substantial evidence, conditions in the personal or professional history of the applicant that may disqualify the applicant from being eligible for access to classified information. The Government has the burden of establishing controverted facts alleged in the SOR. See Egan, 484 U.S. at 531. “Substantial evidence” is “more than a scintilla but less than a preponderance.” See v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth., 36 F.3d 375, 380 (4th Cir. 1994). The guidelines presume a nexus or rational connection between proven conduct under any of the criteria listed therein and an applicant’s security suitability. See ISCR Case No. 15-01253 at 3 (App. Bd. Apr. 20, 2016).

facts. Directive ¶ E3.1.15. An applicant has the burden of proving a mitigating condition, and the burden of disproving it never shifts to the Government. See ISCR Case No. 02- 31154 at 5 (App. Bd. Sep. 22, 2005). An applicant “has the ultimate burden of demonstrating that it is clearly consistent with the national interest to grant or continue his security clearance.” ISCR Case No. 01- 20700 at 3 (App. Bd. Dec. 19, 2002). “[S]ecurity clearance determinations should err, if they must, on the side of denials.” Egan, 484 U.S. at 531.

ANALYSIS

Guideline H, Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse The concern under this guideline is set out in AG ¶ 24: The illegal use of controlled substances, to include the misuse of prescription and non-prescription drugs, and the use of other substances that cause physical or mental impairment or are used in a manner inconsistent with their intended purpose can raise questions about an individual’s reliability and trustworthiness, both because such behavior may lead to physical or psychological impairment and because it raises questions about a person’s ability or willingness to comply with laws, rules, and regulations. Controlled substance means any “controlled substance” as defined in 21 U.S.C. 802. Substance misuse is the generic term adopted in this guideline to describe any of the behaviors listed above. Applicant’s admissions in his SCA and Answer are sufficient to raise the following disqualifying conditions under this guideline: AG ¶ 25: (a): any substance misuse (see above definition); and (c): illegal possession of a controlled substance, including cultivation, processing, manufacture, purchase, sale, or distribution; or possession of drug paraphernalia; and In October 2014, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) issued a memorandum entitled “Adherence to Federal Laws Prohibiting Marijuana Use,” (2014 DNI Memo) which makes clear that changes in the laws pertaining to marijuana by the various states, territories, and the District of Columbia do not alter the existing National Security Adjudicative Guidelines, and that Federal law supersedes state laws on this issue: [C]hanges to state laws and the laws of the District of Columbia pertaining to marijuana use do not alter the existing National Security Adjudicative Guidelines. . . . An individual’s disregard of federal law pertaining to the use, sale, or manufacture of marijuana remains adjudicatively relevant in national security determinations. As always, adjudicative authorities are

The 2021 DNI memo specifically notes that “under policy set forth in SEAD 4's adjudicative guidelines, the illegal use or misuse of controlled substances can raise security concerns about an individual's reliability and trustworthiness to access classified information or to hold a sensitive position, as well as their ability or willingness to comply with laws, rules, and regulations.” Thus, consistent with these references, the AGs indicate that “disregard of federal law pertaining to marijuana remains relevant, but not determinative, to adjudications of eligibility for access to classified information or eligibility to hold a sensitive position.” (2021 DNI Memo.)

expected to evaluate claimed or developed use of, or involvement with, marijuana using the current adjudicative criteria. The adjudicative authority must determine if the use of, or involvement with, marijuana raises questions about the individual’s judgment, reliability, trustworthiness, and willingness to comply with law, rules, and regulations, including federal laws, when making eligibility decisions of persons proposed for, or occupying, sensitive national security positions. The DOHA Appeal Board has cited the 2014 DNI memo in holding that “state laws allowing for the legal use of marijuana in some limited circumstances do not preempt provisions of the Industrial Security Program, and the Department of Defense is not bound by the status of an applicant’s conduct under state law when adjudicating that individual’s eligibility for access to classified information.” ISCR Case No. 14-03734 at 3-4 (App. Bd. Feb. 18, 2016). The current National Security Adjudicative Guidelines went into effect on June 8, 2017, after the 2014 DNI memo was issued. Nevertheless, the principle continues to apply. Moreover, on December 21, 2021, DNI Avril D. Haynes issued a memorandum entitled, “Security Executive Clarifying Guidance Concerning Marijuana for Agencies Conducting Adjudications of Persons Proposed for Eligibility for Access to Classified Information or Eligibility to Hold a Sensitive Position.” (2021 DNI Memo) The memo incorporates the AGs (at reference B) and the 2014 DNI memo (at reference G) among various other relevant Federal laws, executive orders, and memoranda. I take administrative notice of the 2021 DNI memo here, given its relevance to this case, its reliance on the AGs, and its recency. The following mitigating conditions are potentially applicable under AG ¶ 26: (a): the behavior happened so long ago, was so infrequent, or happened under such circumstances that it is unlikely to recur or does not cast doubt on the individual's current reliability, trustworthiness, or good judgment; and (b): the individual acknowledges his or her drug involvement and substance misuse, provides evidence of actions taken to overcome this problem, and has established a pattern of abstinence, including but not limited to: (1)

disassociation from drug-using associates and contacts; (2) changing or avoiding the environment where drugs were used; and (3) providing a signed statement of intent to abstain from all drug involvement and substance misuse, acknowledging that any future involvement or misuse is grounds for revocation of national security eligibility. AG ¶ 26(a) is established for SOR ¶ 1.a. There is no evidence in the record that Applicant understood his use to be problematic at the time and there was no evidence to the contrary. It was over a limited period to help him sleep. He had never held a security clearance and had stopped months prior to his SCA being submitted. The Appeal Board has noted that: Applicants cannot be expected to be constitutional law experts or versed in the concept of Federal supremacy. The ambiguity between state and Federal drug laws and the ensuing confusion was addressed by the Security Executive Agent in December 2021 in “Clarifying Guidance Concerning Marijuana for Agencies Conducting Adjudications of Persons Proposed for Eligibility for Access to Classified Information or Eligibility to Hold a Sensitive Position” (SecEA Clarifying Guidance). Relevant to the topic of notice, the Guidance encourages employers “to advise prospective national security workforce employees that they should refrain from any future marijuana use upon initiation of the national security vetting process, which commences once the individual signs the certification contained in the [SCA].” SecEA Guidance at 2. Implicit in this guidance is the recognition that the SCA itself no longer puts applicants on notice and that employers should affirmatively be providing notice to prospective employees. The SecEA’s guidance to employers, however, cannot be presumed to have been followed. See ISCR Case No. 23-02476 at 5 (App. Bd. May 1, 2024). Applicant’s prior use of marijuana for sleeping does not raise questions about his current reliability, trustworthiness, or good judgment. His subsequent actions after learning of the issue reflect his reliability, trustworthiness, good judgment, and willingness to comply with laws, rules, or regulations. See ISCR Case No. 20-02974 at 6 (App. Bd. Feb. 1, 2022). AG ¶ 26(b) is established for SOR ¶ 1.a. Applicant voluntarily disclosed his actions on his SCA. He fully acknowledges his past actions. He swore to his intention to never take any gummies or use any marijuana products in the future. His Answer reflects his understanding that any future involvement in marijuana is grounds for revocation of a security clearance.

WHOLE PERSON CONCEPT

Under AG ¶ 2(c), the ultimate determination of whether to grant eligibility for a security clearance must be an overall commonsense judgment based upon careful consideration of the guidelines and the whole-person concept. In applying the whole-

person concept, an administrative judge must evaluate an applicant’s eligibility for a security clearance by considering the totality of the applicant’s conduct and all relevant circumstances. An administrative judge should consider the nine adjudicative process factors listed at AG ¶ 2(d): (1) the nature, extent, and seriousness of the conduct; (2) the circumstances surrounding the conduct, to include knowledgeable participation; (3) the frequency and recency of the conduct; (4) the individual’s age and maturity at the time of the conduct; (5) the extent to which participation is voluntary; (6) the presence or absence of rehabilitation and other permanent behavioral changes; (7) the motivation for the conduct; (8) the potential for pressure, coercion, exploitation, or duress; and (9) the likelihood of continuation or recurrence. I have incorporated my comments under Guideline H in my whole-person analysis and applied the adjudicative factors in AG ¶ 2(d). I considered Applicant's admissions and explanations, including his explanation for why he started using marijuana. Applicant’s responses in his SCA, security interview, and Answer regarding his marijuana involvement reflect his recognition that he must not use marijuana even if it is legal for use in his state. After weighing the disqualifying and mitigating conditions under Guideline H and evaluating all the evidence in the context of the whole person, I conclude Applicant has mitigated the security concerns raised by his drug involvement.

FORMAL FINDINGS

I make the following formal findings on the allegations in the SOR: Paragraph 1, Guideline H: FOR APPLICANT For Applicant Subparagraphs 1.a:

CONCLUSION

I conclude that it is clearly consistent with the national security interests of the United States to grant Applicant eligibility for access to classified information. Clearance is granted. Charles C. Hale Administrative Judge