POST BY RONALD PAYNE – I have been getting far more requests this past few weeks than I can even acknowledge receiving pertaining to the issue of Denied COM LORs. So if you had a COM Denial (not a COM Revocation) then that is going to be the subject of today’s Post. There are several reasons why a COM LOR can be denied, they are each listed on the COM Denial Notice and each has a different reason, and a different way to approach it to either resubmit, appeal, both, or to consider other immigration options, such as Refugee or Asylum Status… OK, so let’s start with the second most common, but the most difficult to prepare a response to as it pertains to a COM Denial, and that would be “Derogatory Information has been associated with you which is incompatible with the regulations of the Special Immigrant Visa Program”… What this means is that something was discovered in your background investigation that disqualifies you from the SIV Program. Now this level of disqualification can take two forms – COMPLETE DISQUALIFICATION (also known as a Non-Waiverable Disqualification) : In this form of disqualification, the disqualification is for a reason that will not under any circumstances be forgiven for a lack of better words. This would include any active or passive participation in any enemy or criminal activity or any other activity in which a reasonable belief could be formed that the person has or may present a threat to the security of the United States Government or the safety of the American People. REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION OF DISQUALIFICATION (also known as a Waiverable Disqualification): In this form of disqualification, the disqualification is for anything other than the disqualification as previously mentioned, and a reasonable possibility exists for the SIV Applicant to demonstrate that he/she can be exonerated of the disqualification (ie. prove that the disqualification does not exist) or that there are extenuating or mitigating circumstances that warrant a waiver of such disqualification (ie. the disqualification should be forgiven)… So this now leads us to our first task, which is to identify any possible disqualifiers, and for this you must honestly search your documents, records, and memory… This can be done by asking yourself the following questions: Did you ever get fired from your job for any reason at all? If you got fired from your job, why did you get fired?... now this includes what was written in the record as to why you got fired, but also what really happened… Did you ever get a written disciplinary action?... If yes, why and what happened… now I want to stress that you should not just think about what you think happened, but what is or may be in the record. It is that record that is being looked at in deciding whether or not to award you with the Status of a Special Immigrant. There are always two or more sides to every story, and you need to know each and every story if you are going to provide a good response to a possible disqualifier… Did you ever get a written warning?... same thing, what are the specifics of the written warning, and of course there is nothing better to knowing this than the written warning itself… Now think about this concept, who was involved (think you, your accuser, and any witnesses), what happened or was alleged to happen, when did the incident happen (think date and time), where did the incident happen (think location, and that would mean exact location), why did the incident happen, and how did the incident happen. Think like an Investigator, because this is how you are going to present the facts, but you need these facts before you can present them… Did you ever get a verbal warning?... same thing, think of the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, and HOW… What does your termination notice say, and/or what does your Verification of Employment Letter say was the reason that you are no longer employed, and does it provide as your re-employment recommendation… Now the reason for this is simple, the background investigator is going to get a copy of your employment record from your employer. Now to add possible insult to injury, the background investigator is going to assume that whatever is in your employment record is true unless you can prove that it is false… and that leads us to our next problem, unless you have a copy of your employment record, then you don’t know what exactly is in your employment record, and that is why you are searching your memory for anything and everything that could in any possibility come back and harm you. Make that list, and add anything to that list no matter how small it may seem to you… Likewise, search your memory for anything and everything that could possibly be found by Counter-Intelligence, Law Enforcement, or Force-Protection… Did your former supervisor dislike you and possibly say something bad about you to the security forces. I really don’t want to say this, but there are Racist Afghan/Iraqi Hating Assholes in the United States Government, and some of them get off on getting Terps fired, and they could care less about that damage they do to the United States Government or the injuries to the Terps and their family members by their actions, and often times they are not discovered before all the damage they have done to everyone. So if you had this kind of person over you, what could they have they said about you to anyone, and especially the security services… Think about circumstances that you may have never thought of, for example, did you hang out with someone on base and it latter turned out they were a bad person… remember the old American saying “Birds of a feather stick together” and “the fruit does not fall far from the tree”… what this means is that from the eyes of the Americans, if your seen with someone that latter turns out to be a bad person, you may also be suspected of being a bad person by your association with the bad person… So does any of this apply to you. If it does, there is a possibility that somebody made a report to the security services and in their records you may have been associated with the bad person, they just could not prove it, but that is the point, they don’t need to prove it, the suspicion is sufficient to deny or revoke a security clearance (and that concept is not just for the SIV Applicant, that very concept also applies to USG Employees and Members of the Military)… The idea is this, a Security Clearance is a discretionary decision by the Government, and the Government may deny or revoke a security clearance for any reason or no reason at all, as long as that reason is not otherwise in violation of law. So for example, it would be a violation of law to deny or revoke my security clearance because I am a Muslim. But if I was associating with a Imam that was known to preach that killing non-muslims was halal, then that would form a legitimate reason to deny or revoke a security clearance… So once again, search your memory for anything and everything and then write it down in the form of a list… OK, my eyes have finally given up on me and I need to call it a day and get some rest… if you have a COM Denial, your homework for tonight is to search your memory and whatever documents and records you have for anything and everything that possibly could be described as “derogatory” and to write it down as a list… And when we return, we will then discuss how to determine its relevancy and how to prepare a response to it employing the concept of Exoneration, Extenuation, and Mitigation…
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 00:05:19 +0000
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