{"id":14039,"date":"2026-01-09T14:45:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T15:09:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:09:39","slug":"allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section id=\"gm3ff54c7\" class=\"wp-block-gutentor-m4 section-gm3ff54c7 gutentor-module gutentor-advanced-columns\"><div class=\"grid-container\"><div class=\"grid-row\">\n<div id=\"col-gm7d2e0a\" class=\"wp-block-gutentor-m4-col col-gm7d2e0a gutentor-single-column  grid-lg-12 grid-md-12 grid-12\"><div id=\"section-gm7d2e0a\" class=\"section-gm7d2e0a gutentor-col-wrap\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<!--  \n * Locate code in WPCode Snippets - title:  Investigations Summaries - NSIRA number from tags\n * Shortcode: [nsira_files]\n * Description: Extracts tags following the pattern '00-00' or '00-00-00' \n * and displays them with the \"NSIRA file:\" label.\n-->\n\r\n    <style>\r\n        .nsira-file-inline {\r\n            margin: 15px 0;\r\n            font-family: inherit; \/* Uses your theme's existing font *\/\r\n            line-height: 1.6;\r\n        }\r\n        .nsira-file-label {\r\n            font-weight: 700;    \/* Bold \"NSIRA file:\" *\/\r\n            color: #333;\r\n            display: block;      \/* Label stays on its own line *\/\r\n            margin-bottom: 2px;\r\n        }\r\n        .nsira-file-data {\r\n            color: #000;\r\n            display: block;      \/* Numbers appear on the line below the label *\/\r\n        }\r\n    <\/style>\r\n\r\n    <div class=\"nsira-file-inline\">\r\n        <span class=\"nsira-file-label\">NSIRA file:<\/span>\r\n        <span class=\"nsira-file-data\">07-404-30<\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n\r\n    \n\n\n\n<p>The Complainant alleged that, based on their voluntary disclosure during security interviews, they were denied a&nbsp;Top Secret&nbsp;security clearance and had their reliability status revoked, which resulted in their release from the Canadian Forces. NSIRA found that it had no&nbsp;jurisdiction&nbsp;to make findings and recommendations&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;revocation of reliability status and confined its discussion to matters implicating the security clearance decision only.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Complainant alleged that the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff\u2019s (VCDS) security clearance decision was flawed for several reasons, including that the Complainant\u2019s sexuality influenced the VCDS decision; the VCDS did not take into account the Complainant\u2019s mental health situation and failed to inquire about a mental health nexus in their case and provide accommodation; the decision did not meet DND\u2019s security screening standards; the decision was inconsistent with the recommendation offered by the Complainant\u2019s commanding officer; and the decision did not acknowledge a number of considerations that might mitigate the seriousness of the adverse information against the Complainant.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NSIRA found the Complainant\u2019s allegations to be unsubstantiated. Specifically, NSIRA found that the VCDS decision was not motivated by a concern or consideration of the Complainant\u2019s sexuality or sexual orientation; that in the circumstances, no duty to accommodate was triggered for the purposes of the VCDS decision based on the Complainants mental health situation; that were unsubstantiated&nbsp; the allegations that the VCDS failed to meet security screening standards and that DND failed to properly review the surrounding circumstances; that the assertion that the VCDS decision was improper because it was inconsistent with the Complainant\u2019s commanding officer\u2019s recommendation was unsubstantiated; and that the Complainant\u2019s other allegations, including those with respect to considerations that might mitigate the seriousness of the adverse information against them, did not individually or collectively render the decision unreasonable. In addition, NSIRA found no violation of procedural fairness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, NSIRA observed that certain exculpatory information was excluded from the Threat and Risk Assessment (TRA) before the decision-maker and recommended that this practice be rectified in the future. However, this omission did not amount to a breach of procedural fairness in the circumstances.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7790,"menu_order":16,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-nsira-subpages.php","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[],"tags":[150,69,79],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status - National Security and Intelligence Review Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status - National Security and Intelligence Review Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Security and Intelligence Review Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-23T20:09:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/\",\"name\":\"Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status - National Security and Intelligence Review Agency\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-09T19:45:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-23T20:09:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Investigations\",\"item\":\"\/investigations\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Investigation Summaries\",\"item\":\"\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/\",\"name\":\"National Security and Intelligence Review Agency\",\"description\":\"Official Website\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status - National Security and Intelligence Review Agency","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status - National Security and Intelligence Review Agency","og_url":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/","og_site_name":"National Security and Intelligence Review Agency","article_modified_time":"2026-01-23T20:09:39+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/","url":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/","name":"Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status - National Security and Intelligence Review Agency","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-09T19:45:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-23T20:09:39+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/allegations-against-the-department-of-national-defence-for-denial-of-top-secret-security-clearance-and-revocation-of-reliability-status\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Investigations","item":"\/investigations\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Investigation Summaries","item":"\/investigations\/investigation-summaries\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Allegations against the Department of National Defence for denial of Top Secret security clearance and revocation of reliability status"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/","name":"National Security and Intelligence Review Agency","description":"Official Website","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14039"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14039"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14384,"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14039\/revisions\/14384"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nsira-ossnr.gc.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}