Quarterly docket report
State of the Clearance Docket, Q1 2025
← Q4 2024 · full-year 2025 · next quarter →
The quarter in brief
DOHA judges decided 192 industrial security-clearance cases in Q1 2025, granting 23% of them. That is 1 point higher than Q4 2024 (22% of 178). A year earlier, Q1 2024 recorded 22% of 296. Financial Considerations was the most common concern, appearing in 98 decided cases. The typical case decided this quarter took 336 days from Statement of Reasons to decision, 20 days longer than the prior quarter.
Month by month
- January52 decided
- February69 decided
- March71 decided
Outcomes by concern
- Financial Considerations (F)21%21 granted77 denied
- Drug Involvement & Substance Misuse (H)23%17 granted56 denied
- Personal Conduct (E)19%12 granted52 denied
- Criminal Conduct (J)22%8 granted28 denied
- Alcohol Consumption (G) †25%4 granted12 denied
- Psychological Conditions (I) †29%2 granted5 denied
- Use of Information Technology (M) †17%1 granted5 denied
- Sexual Behavior (D) †17%1 granted5 denied
- Foreign Influence (B) †17%1 granted5 denied
- Handling Protected Information (K) †100%1 granted0 denied
- Foreign Preference (C) †0%0 granted1 denied
| Concern | Granted | Denied | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Considerations (F) | 21 | 77 | 21% |
| Drug Involvement & Substance Misuse (H) | 17 | 56 | 23% |
| Personal Conduct (E) | 12 | 52 | 19% |
| Criminal Conduct (J) | 8 | 28 | 22% |
| Alcohol Consumption (G) | 4 | 12 | 25% † |
| Psychological Conditions (I) | 2 | 5 | 29% † |
| Use of Information Technology (M) | 1 | 5 | 17% † |
| Sexual Behavior (D) | 1 | 5 | 17% † |
| Foreign Influence (B) | 1 | 5 | 17% † |
| Handling Protected Information (K) | 1 | 0 | 100% † |
| Foreign Preference (C) | 0 | 1 | 0% † |
† 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 Q1 2025 took a median of 336 days from the Statement of Reasons to the decision (measured on 190 cases with both dates in the text). The prior quarter’s median was 316 days.
Full timeline breakdowns are available on Measured timelines.
Hearing and written record
- In-person hearing28% granted · 131 cases
- On the written record9% granted · 55 cases
Representation
- With an attorney41% granted · 39 cases
- Self-represented19% granted · 151 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 2025-01-01 through 2025-03-31; appeals counted separately. Definitions and checks: methodology. Cite as: CASE, State of the Clearance Docket, Q1 2025 (clearancesearchengine.com/reports/quarterly/2025-q1). Computed live from the record as it stands today; decisions DOHA publishes late are added to their quarter automatically.