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Issue Encyclopedia · Guideline K · Handling Protected Info

Unauthorized Disclosure

What the decided record shows for this issue, computed from public DOHA hearing-level decisions. Descriptive history, not a prediction.

Does unauthorized disclosure affect a security clearance?

Unauthorized Disclosure is an issue decided under Guideline K, Handling Protected Info. In the decided DOHA record it appears in 77 hearing-level cases, and 30% of the 77 decided ended with access granted (23 granted, 54 denied). The mitigating conditions judges credited most often, and example decisions either way, are below.

Basis: 77 decided hearing-level cases raising this issue. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.

More questions people ask the record

Decided cases

77

hearing-level decisions raising this issue

Granted

30%

23 granted · 54 denied or revoked

Official mitigating conditions cited

The formal mitigating conditions the case profiles identified on this issue, in cases that were granted and in cases that were denied. Each is shown with its paragraph number and a plain name. Read what each condition says.

  • ¶ 35(a) · So long ago, so infrequent, or so unusual that it is unlikely to recur

    In granted cases
    15
    In denied cases
    3

  • ¶ 35(b) · A favorable response to counseling or remedial security training

    In granted cases
    11
    In denied cases
    2

  • ¶ 35(c) · The violations followed inadequate training or unclear instructions

    In granted cases
    4
    In denied cases
    1

Recent decided examples

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00951Granted2026

    The applicant, who has worked in security roles since 2008, faced allegations under Guideline K for mishandling classified information. The incidents included failing to secure classified areas and im…

  • ISCR Case No. 20-03456Granted2022

    The applicant in this case was a 63-year-old employee of a defense contractor who had held a security clearance since 2005. The Department of Defense issued a Statement of Reasons (SOR) citing securit…

  • ISCR Case No. 24-01381Denied2026

    Applicant, a retired Navy E-8 and current defense contractor employee, was denied a clearance after the judge found unresolved concerns under Guidelines K, M, E, J, and G. The decision rested on repea…

  • ISCR Case No. 24-00583Denied2026

    Applicant, a 50-year-old naturalized citizen and project engineer, was denied access to classified information. The Judge found that Guideline I psychological concerns and Guideline K protected-inform…

See all 77 decisions on this issue

Related issues under Guideline K

How these numbers are measured

Scope: decided hearing-level cases whose per-allegation profile records this issue, matched to the same issue value the search filters use, so a count here and a filtered search always agree. A case raising several issues counts under each one. The mitigating conditions and the credited circumstances below were extracted for a subset of the record, so both are counts of cases rather than rates. Pages exist only for issues with at least 25 decided cases, and † marks any split built on fewer than 20.

Reading the statistics

  • Granted = access granted or continued; Denied = denied or revoked.
  • Grant rate = granted ÷ (granted + denied).
  • † marks figures based on fewer than 20 cases, too few to be reliable.
  • Hovering any rate shows its statistical range (a 95% confidence interval).
  • Figures are descriptive counts over decided, public DOHA ISCR decisions, never predictions or assessments of any pending case.

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