Home foreclosures have become a serious problem for the Department of Defense, where financial instability can lead to an employee losing his or her security clearance. An analysis of Pentagon records by Sheldon Cohen, a national security law expert, found that more defense workers are losing their access to classified information because of debt troubles and losing their homes.

 

From 2000 to 2002, the Defense Department’s Office of Hearings and Appeals received only one reported case dealing with foreclosure. The next four years had an average of three such cases a year. Then, things got bad.

 

During 2007-2008, the number of foreclosure cases leaped to nine each year. In 2009 alone, there were 24 cases, and during the first five months of this year, there were nine, putting 2010 on pace to possibly set a new record.

 

Although the Office of Hearings can excuse a Defense employee who has lost a home, someone who has debt problems is often considered a security risk.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Debt and Home Foreclosures: Their Effect on National Security Clearances (by Sheldon I. Cohen) (pdf)