Quarterly docket report

State of the Clearance Docket, Q4 2014

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The quarter in brief

DOHA judges decided 308 industrial security-clearance cases in Q4 2014, granting 45% of them. That is 1 point lower than Q3 2014 (46% of 261). A year earlier, Q4 2013 recorded 29% of 190. Financial Considerations was the most common concern, appearing in 232 decided cases. The typical case decided this quarter took 192 days from Statement of Reasons to decision, 40 days longer than the prior quarter.

Decided cases

308

139 granted · 169 denied

Grant rate

45%

Q3 2014: 46% · Q4 2013: 29%

Appeal Board decisions

16 affirmed · 4 reversed or remanded

Month by month

October115 decided
November87 decided
December106 decided

Outcomes by concern

Financial Considerations (F)45%
104 granted128 denied
Personal Conduct (E)32%
29 granted61 denied
Drug Involvement & Substance Misuse (H)35%
12 granted22 denied
Foreign Influence (B)61%
17 granted11 denied
Criminal Conduct (J) †16%
3 granted16 denied
Alcohol Consumption (G) †43%
3 granted4 denied
Handling Protected Information (K) †50%
3 granted3 denied
Use of Information Technology (M) †33%
2 granted4 denied
Sexual Behavior (D) †50%
2 granted2 denied
Foreign Preference (C) †25%
1 granted3 denied

Concern	Granted	Denied	Grant rate
Financial Considerations (F)	104	128	45%
Personal Conduct (E)	29	61	32%
Drug Involvement & Substance Misuse (H)	12	22	35%
Foreign Influence (B)	17	11	61%
Criminal Conduct (J)	3	16	16% †
Alcohol Consumption (G)	3	4	43% †
Handling Protected Information (K)	3	3	50% †
Use of Information Technology (M)	2	4	33% †
Sexual Behavior (D)	2	2	50% †
Foreign Preference (C)	1	3	25% †

† fewer than 20 decided cases, too few to generalize. Cases often raise several concerns, so rows overlap.

Time from Statement of Reasons to decision

Cases decided in Q4 2014 took a median of 192 days from the Statement of Reasons to the decision (measured on 303 cases with both dates in the text). The prior quarter’s median was 152 days.

Full timeline breakdowns are available on Measured timelines.

Hearing and written record

In-person hearing56% granted · 209 cases
On the written record23% granted · 98 cases

Representation

With an attorney60% granted · 47 cases
Self-represented42% granted · 259 cases

An association in the decided record, not a measure of what representation causes: represented and self-represented cases can differ in many ways.

Population: decided hearing-level STANDARD_ISCR decisions dated 2014-10-01 through 2014-12-31; appeals counted separately. Definitions and checks: methodology. Cite as: CASE, State of the Clearance Docket, Q4 2014 (clearancesearchengine.com/reports/quarterly/2014-q4). Computed live from the record as it stands today; decisions DOHA publishes late are added to their quarter automatically.