Security clearance counseling and advocacy is a core practice here. We advise and represent you when your clearance is or may be questioned. We’re here in Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, and the involved agencies are nearby. If you are facing an appeal or otherwise need an experienced security clearance lawyer, we are hands-on help for your problem.


We counsel and represent government contractors and employees in applying for clearances and in responding to administrative actions, including security clearance appeals.  We show you how to be proactive. We listen to you so that we understand your situation. We review and analyze alternatives with you and recommend actions to improve your prospects before the security clearance appeal is finally considered and decided. We help you make sound decisions and powerful presentations to secure a favorable determination.

We are lawyer’s lawyers, consulting with law firms handling non-clearance matters, such as DUIs, DWIs, divorces and bankruptcies. We explore the consequences of the charges and outcomes on their client’s clearance and ways to contain those consequences.

Defense Contractor Security Clearance Practice

Our security clearance lawyers assist companies whose clearances have been called into question. We’ve counseled companies on reforming systems and structures to meet facilities clearance guidelines, which are published in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual.

Individual Security Clearance Practice

Our individual security clearance appeal clients, meaning people who have received a Statement of Reasons or Letter of Intent, reside primarily in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. But we also regularly handle denials of security clearances for clients elsewhere, including recently Florida, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Washington, and overseas. Additionally we can counsel you on how to complete the SF-86 (also known as e-QIP if completed on-line) and the SF-85P.

Security Clearance Appeals

We represent you through the process at a range of federal agencies and offices, including DOHA, CIA, NSA, NASA, DOE, DOJ, DOHS, ICE, State Department, and DODCAF. If you received a Statement of Reasons or a Letter of Intent, look at our page describing the appeals process and contact us.

Some Recent ISCR Successes

Note: Most decisions in cases involving government employees, including decisions by the NSA, CIA, DIA, NRO, State Department, Defense Department, etc., are unpublished and the actual decisions are in any event short and largely uninformative as to issues and evidence. The Department of Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) does publish its contractor (ISCR) cases and you’ll find below a sampling of DOHA  cases we’ve won in the last decade.  You should understand that we lose cases too and that there are many variables determining how a case will be decided, including but not limited to the breadth and nature of the stated concerns leading to the proposed adverse action, the specific facts that can be proven by the appealing individual, and the clarity and focus of the presentation of an appeal.

 

Resources

Want to see some of the “backroom” materials we use?  Check out this site.