The year has passed and with all of the changes in background investigation and security clearance realm it seems apt to label 2019 as the year of security clearance and background investigation reform. Reinvestigations are a thing of the past; Continuous Evaluation (CE) and Trusted Workforce 2.0 are the new buzzwords; the new Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) took over from the Defense Security Service and National Background Investigations Bureau. All of this occurred while keeping the flow of new security clearance investigations going. The massive amount of planning and coordination needed to pull this off was challenging to say the least, but things seem to have smoothed out and processes are improving. On the adjudication side of the house (posted through the end of October) the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals heard 1,066 initial DoD clearance denial appeals. Below is a breakdown by adjudicative category of the types of issues involved resulting in initial denial (note – many cases had multiple issues):
| Adjudicative Guideline | |
| Guideline A: Allegiance to the U.S | 1 |
| Guideline B: Foreign Influence | 135 |
| Guideline C: Foreign Preference | 13 |
| Guideline D: Sexual Behavior | 20 |
| Guideline E: Personal Conduct | 211 |
| Guideline F: Financial Considerations | 522 |
| Guideline G: Alcohol Consumption | 61 |
| Guideline H: Drug Involvement | 75 |
| Guideline I: Psychological Conditions | 17 |
| Guideline J: Criminal Conduct | 63 |
| Guideline K: Handling Protected Information | 14 |
| Guideline L: Outside Activities | 2 |
| Guideline M: Use of IT Systems | 10 |
| Outcome | |
| Appeals with a favorable decision | 303 |
| Denied appeals | 742 |
| Favorable decision reversed | 9 |
| Case remanded back to the agency | 12 |
