An unnamed woman was denied a top-secret security clearance this year because she was a “close” relative of an authoritarian dictator from an unnamed country, according to a publicly available document from the Office of Hearings and Investigations. calls from the Ministry of Defense.
The administrative judge assigned to the case ultimately decided to deny authorization in what appears to be an extraordinary case because the applicant is linked to “an extremely evil and dangerous person, a dictator of a country hostile to the United States.” .
As of October 2017, more than 1.2 million people had top-secret security clearance, CNN previously reported.
The applicant, whose identity is withheld, is aged in her 30s, married to a US citizen born in the United States and has worked for defense contractors for several years, the document states. . She and her family moved to the United States in the 1990s when she was young and became American citizens; they are not in contact with any family members still living in the country in question – referred to only as “Country X” in the document.
The judge said Country X “supports international terrorism and conducts cyberattacks and espionage against the United States.”
“Plaintiff was born a citizen of Country X,” the filing states. “A close family member (cousin, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew) is the dictator of Country X. The plaintiff’s parents and their children, including the plaintiff, immigrated to the United States in the 1990s, when she was young. They all became American citizens. »
The family all changed their names upon arrival in the United States, although the petitioner told the court that her mother “always feared reprisals.”
The document states that the woman in question already has a secret security clearance and that no concerns have been raised about her handling of sensitive information.
“A model employee”
“This is a difficult case because the plaintiff is intelligent, honest, loyal to the United States, a model employee, and a current clearance holder with no evidence of security concerns,” wrote the administrative law judge in charge. of the case, Edward Loughran, in the document. “She credibly testified that her ties to Country X and its dictator could not be used to coerce or intimidate her into revealing classified information.”
“There is nothing about her that makes her a perfect candidate for a security clearance, except for her family ties to a dictator,” Loughran said.
Administrative decisions on security clearance eligibility are routinely publicly released by the Office of Defense Hearings and Appeals.
Dr. Marek Posard, a military sociologist at the RAND Corporation, told CNN that information in the files suggested the person in question may be from North Korea.
“It looks like he’s Kim Jong Un’s cousin,” Posard said. “The problem is that they are talking about a dictator and state terrorism. Only four countries are on the state terrorism list: two are involved in cyberspace and one is particularly active in retaliation: the DPRK (North Korea).”
Currently, the four countries listed by the United States as sponsors of state terrorism are Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria.
The Washington Post reported in 2016 that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s aunt and her three children immigrated to the United States in 1998. The judge who made the final decision said in the document that Country people who leave their country as traitors, and the country has taken retaliatory measures against some of them.
The application for permission arrived in Loughran in October 2023 and the matter was finally decided in January. The records are intentionally vague with details regarding the plaintiff and her family, as Loughran notes, it is “impossible to be too specific about the plaintiff and her family without revealing her identity.”
The judge noted “unfailing loyalty” to the United States
Posard noted that the judge “is very careful not to criticize the plaintiff” in the document. Indeed, Loughran repeatedly emphasized that there was no reason to question the applicant’s loyalty to the United States: she expressed “her unwavering loyalty and allegiance to the United States.” , according to records. Loughran also notes that he has an “extremely favorable view of the plaintiff as a person.”
“The candidate submitted letters attesting to her excellent professional performance and strong moral character. She is commended for her reliability, professionalism, reliability and discretion in handling information relating to national security. She is recommended for a security clearance…She is a good person who happens to be connected to an extremely bad and dangerous person, the dictator of a country hostile to the United States,” Loughran wrote.
Posard also noted that it was not particularly surprising that the woman had already obtained secret clearance, saying that circumstances might have changed in the meantime, including the geopolitical situation.
“One thing people forget is that it’s not like you get the keys to the kingdom,” Posard said of secret clearance, which is the other level of security clearance lowest available. As of October 2017, more than 2.8 million people had security clearances – more than 1.6 million of them had confidential or secret clearances, and nearly 1.2 million had access to highly classified information. secret.
Ultimately, Loughran declined his request for eligibility for a top-secret clearance on the grounds that his connection to the dictator “creates a potential conflict of interest and increased risk of exploitation, incitement, manipulation, of foreign pressure and coercion.
Posard said the rejection likely has “nothing to do with this young woman” but is due to the level of risk the United States is willing to accept in giving her clearance.
“It’s not just about the risk to the individual, it’s also about their distant social network… Sometimes when we think about the authorization process, it’s not that there’s something wrong with you as an individual, is that a risk could be created through your network that could be exploited in ways that we don’t think about,” he said.
“It’s not its fault,” he added, “but if the DPRK wants to exploit this… these are the kinds of things we need to think about in advance.”
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