If it was a delay then why fire him now? It has to be something in his background made it clear he wasn’t going to get the security clearance under any normal circumstances. Part of the Kelly crackdown on temporary clearances?
He doesn’t have much obvious background to question. I’d bet he was found leaking. That’s why he was booted without being able to pick up his jacket or anything else.
I have a friend who had a certain security clearance level. He retired from the Army as a Major and went to work for DOD doing essentially the same job but needing a higher security level. About a year later, I finally got called for an interview with someone from OPM.
It took so long, he had to take a lower level job until his clearance finally came through.
Maybe he thought he was too big for the new rule.
Why couldn't it be something in the present job performance such as leaks........?