Quarterly docket report
State of the Clearance Docket, Q4 2020
Decided cases
57
16 granted · 41 denied
Grant rate
28%
16 of 57 decided · Q3 2020: 33%
Statement of Reasons to decision
327 days
median across 55 cases stating both dates
The quarter in brief
DOHA judges decided 57 industrial security clearance cases in Q4 2020, granting 28% of them. That is 5 points lower than Q3 2020 (33% of 70). A year earlier, Q4 2019 recorded 25% of 183. Financial Considerations was the most common concern, appearing in 40 decided cases. The typical case decided this quarter took 327 days from Statement of Reasons to decision, 62 days longer than the prior quarter.
Month by month
Outcomes by concern
| Concern | Cases | Granted | Denied | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F · Financial Considerations | 40 | 13 | 27 | |
| E · Personal Conduct | 15 | 2 | 13 | |
| H · Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse | 9 | 0 | 9 | |
| J · Criminal Conduct | 7 | 1 | 6 | |
| B · Foreign Influence | 6 | 2 | 4 | |
| G · Alcohol Consumption | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| D · Sexual Behavior | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| M · Use of Information Technology | 1 | 0 | 1 |
- Cases
- 40
- Granted
- 13
- Denied
- 27
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 15
- Granted
- 2
- Denied
- 13
- Grant rate
H · Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse
- Cases
- 9
- Granted
- 0
- Denied
- 9
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 7
- Granted
- 1
- Denied
- 6
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 6
- Granted
- 2
- Denied
- 4
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 2
- Granted
- 1
- Denied
- 1
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 2
- Granted
- 0
- Denied
- 2
- Grant rate
M · Use of Information Technology
- Cases
- 1
- Granted
- 0
- Denied
- 1
- Grant rate
Time from Statement of Reasons to decision
- Median: 327 days, measured on 55 cases stating both dates.
- Prior quarter: 265 days, measured on 60 cases.
Full breakdowns are on measured timelines.
Hearing and written record
| Path | Cases | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|
| Decided after a live hearing | 39 | |
| Decided on the written record | 15 |
Decided after a live hearing
- Cases
- 39
- Grant rate
Decided on the written record
- Cases
- 15
- Grant rate
Representation
| Representation | Cases | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|
| Represented by a lawyer | 15 | |
| Self-represented | 40 |
Represented by a lawyer
- Cases
- 15
- Grant rate
Self-represented
- Cases
- 40
- Grant rate
An association, not proof of cause: the groups being compared differ in many ways.
Cite this report
CASE, State of the Clearance Docket, Q4 2020 (clearancesearchengine.com/reports/quarterly/2020-q4)
How these numbers are measured
The population is decided hearing-level industrial security clearance decisions dated 2020-10-01 through 2020-12-31. Appeal Board decisions are counted separately and never mixed into the hearing figures. † marks a group built on fewer than 20 decided cases, too few to generalize, and a case raising several concerns counts under each of them. Figures are computed live from the record as it stands today, so decisions DOHA publishes late are added to their own quarter automatically. Definitions and checks are on the methodology page.
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.
Where to go from here
Get help with my case
Send us your question, or the Statement of Reasons you received. No charge, and a CASE analyst reads it. Usually five to ten business days.
Ask a question →I do this for clients
Rank every decision by how closely it matches a matter, see how the assigned judge has ruled, and keep it together with cited exports.
For attorneys and firms →Decided public cases: descriptive, never a prediction.