WASHINGTON (CN) - The Federal Circuit remanded a former Department of Defense employee's claim that the government's failure to follow its own procedures caused him to lose his security clearance, which led to his dismissal.
Wilfredo Romero worked as an auditor in the Office of the Inspector General when he was asked to work on classified files. He did not receive security clearance and ultimately lost his job.
The Merit Systems Protection Board upheld Romero's dismissal, stating that it could not review the merits underlying a security clearance revocation.
But Judge Bryson ruled that the board failed to address Romero's claim that the government was behind his loss of security privileges.
Bryson remanded the case to determine that issue, and whether such a failure constituted a harmful error.
The DOD had flagged Romero as a security risk because his wife is a Honduran citizen and works for the Honduran Embassy.
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