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CASE

The 13 adjudicative guidelines

The 13 categories of security concern used when deciding clearances. Each page shows the public cases, the common issues, and the outcomes for that concern.
A

Allegiance to the United States

4 cases

Rarely raised, and rarely decisive.

B

Foreign Influence

3,954 cases

C

Foreign Preference

1,510 cases

D

Sexual Behavior

632 cases

E

Personal Conduct

8,570 cases

F

Financial Considerations

15,374 cases

G

Alcohol Consumption

2,136 cases

H

Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse

3,627 cases

I

Psychological Conditions

267 cases

J

Criminal Conduct

3,909 cases

K

Handling Protected Information

294 cases

L

Outside Activities

56 cases

M

Use of Information Technology

299 cases

How the process worksA contested case follows a published sequence. Open this for the short version, or put a question to Ask Mode on the home page. Accounts are free and include up to 25 questions per day.

A contested case follows a published path: a Statement of Reasons, the government's written list of its concerns (an SOR), a written answer, a hearing or a decision on the written record, the judge's decision, and in some cases an appeal.

Read the stages of a DOHA case · Ask a question about the process

Almost everything above is weighed case by case. The narrow exceptions, where a law rather than the judge settles the outcome, are covered separately: the statutory bars.

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Rank every decision by how closely it matches a matter, see how the assigned judge has ruled, and keep it together with cited exports.

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Descriptive statistics from decided public DOHA cases. Not legal advice or a prediction. † marks samples under 20 cases.