On October 31, 2019, an OHA Administrative Judge (AJ) issued a decision in which he determined that an individual’s DOE access authorization should be denied.  The Local Security Organization (LSO) accused the Individual of failing to provide truthful and candid information in a Questionnaire for National Security Positions (QNSP) that the Individual had filed with the LSO.  Specifically, the LSO alleged that the Individual had failed disclose his failure to file his Federal tax returns for tax years 2015 and 2016.  At the hearing, the Individual submitted evidence showing that he had in fact filed his Federal tax returns for both tax years prior to his submission of the QNSP.  The AJ accordingly found that the Individual had not failed to provide truthful and candid information in the QNSP, and that therefore the LSO’s allegations under Guideline E were based upon an invalid factual basis. However, the LSO also alleged that the Individual had failed to file his federal tax return for tax year 2017, and had failed to file his state tax returns for tax years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.  At the hearing conducted by the AJ, the Individual presented evidence showing that he had recently filed each of these delinquent tax returns.  However, the AJ found that the Individual’s filing of all of his outstanding tax returns did not sufficiently mitigate the security concerns raised by the Individual longstanding pattern of failing to comply with his financial and legal tax obligations. The AJ found that, by failing to file his tax returns for an extended period, from 2011, through 2017, the Individual has exhibited poor judgment, shown that he cannot be relied upon, and shown that he cannot be considered trustworthy.  The AJ further found that the only explanation provided by the Individual for his failure to file his taxes is troubling; since he claimed that he believed that he was owed a refund for each of these years and considered these alleged unclaimed refunds to be assets, when actually owed taxes for most of these tax years, and his tax liability for those years actually exceeded his unclaimed refunds by approximately $3,500. The AJ further found that the Individual was actually experiencing financial hardship during this period, which he believed suggested that either the Individual’s explanation was not credible, or that he exhibited poor judgment by failing to utilize these resources. Accordingly, the AJ found that the Individual had failed to mitigate the security concerns raised under Guideline F. Accordingly, the AJ found that the Individual's access authorization should be denied. OHA Case No. PSH-19-0040 (Steven L. Fine).