Skip to main content

← Clearance documents

Statement of Reasons

Form SOR. This is a document you normally see or sign.

What it is

The document that sets out, allegation by allegation, why the government is not presently able to find that access is clearly consistent with the national interest. It is the start of the due-process stage, not the end of the case.

What you do

Respond within the stated deadline, answering each allegation. Cases are lost by default far more easily than they are lost on the merits.

Also called

SOR, statement of reasons, security concerns letter, statement of security concerns.

Where this comes from

DOHA — Industrial Security Program DOHA: where the finding cannot be made, "a Statement of Reasons (SOR) is issued to the individual", and the SOR with the response goes to DOHA.

Related services

If the document you have received is an adverse one, these are the next steps available.

Checked against the issuing agency’s own published source. Descriptive research on published procedures. Not legal advice, and not a prediction about any pending case.