Guideline B: Foreign Influence
Family, financial, business, or professional ties to a foreign country that could create pressure, influence, or divided interests.
3,936
decided hearing cases
54%
granted
Specific issues and their outcomes
Foreign relationship (unspecified)
54% granted · 2,448Parent in a foreign country
52% granted · 2,257Sibling in a foreign country
57% granted · 1,736In law in foreign country
52% granted · 1,013Spouse dual / foreign citizen
43% granted · 784Extended family in foreign country
53% granted · 674Mitigations judges credited most
Deep U.S. ties
1,976
Severed foreign contact
63
Foreign assets divested
31
U.S. military service
22
Foreign passport surrendered
18
Counted only where the judge expressly credited the mitigation, not merely where it was claimed.
What the reference material says about foreign-influence cases
- For current clearance holders, unofficial foreign travel requires an itinerary and approval before the trip, and continuing foreign contacts involving closeness or exchanges of personal information must be reported. These are baseline duties for everyone with access. (SEAD-3, Section F)
- Practitioner sources describe the analysis in this order: the country involved matters most, then the closeness of the foreign tie, then whether U.S. ties clearly outweigh it. (Practitioner sources)
From our verified reference library: paraphrased from the named sources and reviewed before publication. Descriptive background, not legal advice about any case.
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Descriptive statistics from decided public DOHA cases. Not legal advice or a prediction. † marks samples under 20 cases.