Federal Suitability and Security Clearances: Issue Mitigation Handbook

This book explains how suitability and security issues can be mitigated. Proper issue mitigation is not only critical to ultimately obtaining a clearance; in many cases it can result in the granting of an interim clearance and reduce the time it takes to get a final clearance. All 3 major federal personnel security programs are covered in this book with explanations of the procedures, investigations, and adjudicative standards. Sample SOR, LOD, NOPA, and affidavit forms, as well as reference materials, case citations, and rebuttal, hearing, and appeal instructions are included. This is the original edition of this book. The 2nd Edition (2024) is available at Amazon.

     William Henderson, author of Security Clearance Manual and Issue Mitigation Handbook, is a retired federal investigator who worked as a field agent and supervisor for the Defense Investigative Service (DIS) and its successor organizations, the Defense Security Service (DSS) and the Federal Investigative Services Division of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for over 20 years. He was previously an Army Counterintelligence Agent and a security manager at the Satellite Control Facilities Operation of Ford Aerospace & Communications Corporation.
     He wrote his first personnel security investigation report in 1970 for the U.S. Army. His assignments included CI Special Operations in Japan and Korea, Source Administration in Vietnam, CI field office duty in Chicago, tactical CI operations in Colorado Springs, and a position on the J2 staff at CINCLANT.
     While with DIS, DSS and OPM, he held positions of Special Agent, Senior Resident Agent, and Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge. He worked primarily in Monterey, California where he conducted numerous security investigations of former Soviet Bloc Émigrés And Refugees teaching at the Defense Language Institute. He also frequently conducted investigations in major metropolitan areas throughout the United States.
    After his retirement from federal service in 2007, he published two books, which have been used as textbooks at colleges and universities, and scores of articles on federal personnel security programs. He's been interviewed by print and broadcast journalists, served as an expert witness in civil lawsuits, and provide security clearance consulting services to hundreds of clearance applicants.