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ISCR Case 24-00338 — CASE

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ISCR Case 24-00338

A decided public DOHA case, shown for research — not advice or a prediction.

Case Profile
Decision Date3/19/2025
Statusdenied
LevelHEARING
TypeSTANDARD ISCR
Participants
Applicant Representation: Pro Se
Judge: Roger C. Wesley
Government Counsel: Jenny G. Bayer
Case Summary
The applicant in this case was a 63-year-old employee of a defense contractor seeking a security clearance. The adjudicative guideline at issue was financial considerations, under which the applicant faced allegations of accumulating 12 delinquent consumer debts exceeding $43,000, as well as significant delinquent federal and state taxes. The Statement of Reasons indicated that the applicant failed to file required tax returns for multiple years and that his financial issues remained unresolved.
In his response to the Statement of Reasons, the applicant admitted to the allegations but provided explanations, claiming that he had included his debts in a bankruptcy filing and had since filed his tax returns and entered a payment program for his tax debts. However, he did not provide any documentation to support these claims. The applicant attributed his financial difficulties to post-COVID-19 employment challenges, particularly in the travel industry, and acknowledged his tax filing lapses only after being prompted by an investigator.
The administrative judge ruled against the applicant, concluding that he did not mitigate the financial concerns raised. The judge noted the applicant's lack of documented progress in addressing his debts and tax issues, as well as the absence of corroborating evidence for his claims of having filed tax returns and entered payment agreements. The judge emphasized that the applicant's financial distress raised significant questions about his reliability and trustworthiness, ultimately leading to the denial of his eligibility for access to classified information.
Guidelines Evaluated
- Guideline FFinancial Considerations · Against Applicant
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Case Headnote

ISCR Case No. 24-00338

deniedMar 19, 2025· Hon. Roger C. Wesley· hearing

Summary

A 63-year-old defense contractor employee was denied a security clearance under Guideline F (Financial Considerations) due to significant unresolved financial issues. The Statement of Reasons alleged 12 delinquent consumer debts totaling over $43,000, federal tax debts exceeding $30,000, and a failure to file multiple federal and state income tax returns.

Disqualifying conditions 19(a), 19(b), 19(c), and 19(f) were raised. While mitigating condition 19(b) was applied, it was insufficient to overcome the government's concerns.

The denial was based on the applicant's accumulation of substantial delinquent consumer debts, failure to file federal income tax returns for multiple years leading to significant tax liabilities, and a lack of documented evidence demonstrating resolution of these financial problems or timely tax filings. Despite claims of bankruptcy and efforts to address debts, the applicant did not provide sufficient evidence to mitigate the financial concerns.

Why the Applicant Was Denied

The applicant accumulated 12 delinquent consumer debts exceeding $43,000.
The applicant failed to file federal income tax returns for multiple years, resulting in significant tax debts.
The applicant did not provide documented evidence of resolving his financial issues or timely filing his tax returns.

Conditions Referenced

Disqualifying

19(a)raisedInability to Satisfy Debts
19(b)raisedUnwillingness to Satisfy Debts Regardless of the Ability to Do So
19(c)raisedA History of Not Meeting Financial Obligations
19(f)raisedFailure to File or Fraudulently Filing Annual Federal, State, or Local Income Tax Returns or Failure to Pay Annual Federal, State, or Local Income Tax, as Required

Mitigating

19(b)appliedThe Conditions That Resulted in the Financial Problem Were Largely Beyond the Person’s ControlThe applicant's reported periodic unemployment entitled him to partial application of this condition.

Key Rule Quoted

“Eligibility for access to classified information may only be granted 'upon a finding that it is clearly consistent with the national interest to do so.'”
— Exec. Or. 10865, Safeguarding Classified Information within Industry § 2 (Feb. 20, 1960)

Procedural Posture

SOR issuedMar 18, 2024
Answer filedMar 25, 2025Requested resolution on the written record without a hearing.
Hearing held—
Decision dateMar 19, 2025

Cite For

Denial of Security Clearance Due to Unresolved Financial Issues Under Guideline F
Importance of Documented Evidence in Mitigating Financial Concerns
Impact of Failure to File Tax Returns on Security Clearance Eligibility

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 F · descriptive summary of a decided case

Posture: Decision on RecordDecided: denied

The judge found that the applicant had accumulated significant delinquent consumer debts and failed to file federal and state income tax returns for multiple years, resulting in a total of over $43,000 in debts. The judge ruled against the applicant on all allegations under Guideline F, concluding that the financial considerations security concerns were not mitigated.

¶	Allegation	Finding	Type	Response	Disqualifying (¶19)	Mitigating applied (¶20)	Mitigation
1.a	Applicant allegedly accumulated 12 delinquent consumer debts exceeding $43,000, delinquent federal taxes owed in excess of $30,000, and failed to file federal and state income tax returns for multiple years. $43,000	Against Applicant	Tax Unpaid	Admitted	—	—	Claimed Debt Disputed with Creditor

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

Full decision

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