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Quarterly docket report

State of the Clearance Docket, Q2 2021

Q1 2021 · full-year 2021 · next quarter →

The quarter in brief

DOHA judges decided 130 industrial security-clearance cases in Q2 2021, granting 29% of them. That is 1 point higher than Q1 2021 (28% of 116). A year earlier, Q2 2020 recorded 35% of 109. Financial Considerations was the most common concern, appearing in 82 decided cases. The typical case decided this quarter took 328 days from Statement of Reasons to decision, 12 days shorter than the prior quarter.

Decided cases
130
38 granted · 92 denied
Grant rate
29%
Q1 2021: 28% · Q2 2020: 35%
Appeal Board decisions
16
14 affirmed · 2 reversed or remanded

Month by month

  • April34 decided
  • May45 decided
  • June51 decided

Outcomes by concern

  • Financial Considerations (F)27%
    22 granted60 denied
  • Personal Conduct (E)28%
    8 granted21 denied
  • Drug Involvement & Substance Misuse (H)14%
    3 granted19 denied
  • Foreign Influence (B)53%
    9 granted8 denied
  • Criminal Conduct (J)27%
    4 granted11 denied
  • Alcohol Consumption (G)0%
    0 granted9 denied
  • Sexual Behavior (D)33%
    2 granted4 denied
  • Psychological Conditions (I)17%
    1 granted5 denied
  • Foreign Preference (C)100%
    1 granted0 denied
  • Use of Information Technology (M)0%
    0 granted1 denied

† 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 Q2 2021 took a median of 328 days from the Statement of Reasons to the decision (measured on 123 cases with both dates in the text). The prior quarter’s median was 340 days.

Full timeline breakdowns are available on Measured timelines.

Hearing and written record

  • In-person hearing38% granted · 69 cases
  • On the written record16% granted · 55 cases

Representation

  • With an attorney22% granted · 23 cases
  • Self-represented30% granted · 106 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 2021-04-01 through 2021-06-30; appeals counted separately. Definitions and checks: methodology. Cite as: CASE, State of the Clearance Docket, Q2 2021 (clearancesearchengine.com/reports/quarterly/2021-q2). Computed live from the record as it stands today; decisions DOHA publishes late are added to their quarter automatically.