Quarterly docket report
State of the Clearance Docket, Q3 2026
Decided cases
194
37 granted · 157 denied
Grant rate
19%
37 of 194 decided · Q2 2026: 23%
Statement of Reasons to decision
221 days
median across 193 cases stating both dates
The quarter in brief
DOHA judges decided 194 industrial security clearance cases in Q3 2026, granting 19% of them. That is 4 points lower than Q2 2026 (23% of 170). A year earlier, Q3 2025 recorded 25% of 197. Financial Considerations was the most common concern, appearing in 116 decided cases. The typical case decided this quarter took 221 days from Statement of Reasons to decision, 53 days shorter than the prior quarter.
Month by month
Outcomes by concern
| Concern | Cases | Granted | Denied | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F · Financial Considerations | 116 | 21 | 95 | |
| E · Personal Conduct | 63 | 7 | 56 | |
| H · Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse | 37 | 9 | 28 | |
| J · Criminal Conduct | 21 | 2 | 19 | |
| B · Foreign Influence | 19 | 3 | 16 | |
| G · Alcohol Consumption | 17 | 2 | 15 | |
| I · Psychological Conditions | 13 | 3 | 10 | |
| D · Sexual Behavior | 9 | 0 | 9 | |
| K · Handling Protected Information | 5 | 1 | 4 | |
| M · Use of Information Technology | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
| C · Foreign Preference | 2 | 0 | 2 |
- Cases
- 116
- Granted
- 21
- Denied
- 95
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 63
- Granted
- 7
- Denied
- 56
- Grant rate
H · Drug Involvement and Substance Misuse
- Cases
- 37
- Granted
- 9
- Denied
- 28
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 21
- Granted
- 2
- Denied
- 19
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 19
- Granted
- 3
- Denied
- 16
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 17
- Granted
- 2
- Denied
- 15
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 13
- Granted
- 3
- Denied
- 10
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 9
- Granted
- 0
- Denied
- 9
- Grant rate
K · Handling Protected Information
- Cases
- 5
- Granted
- 1
- Denied
- 4
- Grant rate
M · Use of Information Technology
- Cases
- 4
- Granted
- 0
- Denied
- 4
- Grant rate
- Cases
- 2
- Granted
- 0
- Denied
- 2
- Grant rate
Time from Statement of Reasons to decision
- Median: 221 days, measured on 193 cases stating both dates.
- Prior quarter: 274 days, measured on 167 cases.
Full breakdowns are on measured timelines.
Hearing and written record
| Path | Cases | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|
| Decided after a live hearing | 144 | |
| Decided on the written record | 50 |
Decided after a live hearing
- Cases
- 144
- Grant rate
Decided on the written record
- Cases
- 50
- Grant rate
Representation
| Representation | Cases | Grant rate |
|---|---|---|
| Represented by a lawyer | 41 | |
| Self-represented | 152 |
Represented by a lawyer
- Cases
- 41
- Grant rate
Self-represented
- Cases
- 152
- 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, Q3 2026 (clearancesearchengine.com/reports/quarterly/2026-q3)
How these numbers are measured
The population is decided hearing-level industrial security clearance decisions dated 2026-07-01 through 2026-09-30. 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.
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