Guideline B: Foreign Influence
Family, financial, business, or professional ties to a foreign country that could create pressure, influence, or divided interests.
3,921
decided hearing cases
54%
granted
The specific issues, and how they fared
Foreign relationship (unspecified)
54% granted · 2,438Parent in a foreign country
52% granted · 2,250Sibling in a foreign country
57% granted · 1,733In law in foreign country
52% granted · 1,013Spouse dual / foreign citizen
44% granted · 783Extended family in foreign country
53% granted · 672Mitigations judges credited most
Deep U.S. ties
1,971
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.
Where to go from here
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Descriptive statistics from decided public DOHA cases. Not legal advice or a prediction. † marks samples under 20 cases.