Washington ( CNN ) -- For federal workers with security clearances , losing a house to foreclosure can cost them their jobs as well , because financial distress can be a security vulnerability , a recent study says . Attorney Sheldon Cohen says he has several clients who face losing their jobs -- or being rejected for a new job -- because they have gotten into debt and can not pass the required background check . `` The government needs to take into account the current financial crisis in the country , '' he said . `` Not everybody who loses their house due to a mortgage or a short sale is necessarily a security risk . '' To prove his point , Cohen looked at the Defense Department , and counted the number of contractor employees who have been stripped of their security privileges because of debt . Ten years ago , there was fewer than one case per year that reached the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals , the study shows . Last year , there were 24 , and the pace this year looks similar . Employees with at least 10 other agencies face similar procedures of reviewing and revoking clearances , Cohen says . `` No single fact ( e.g . a foreclosure ) will necessarily result in a denial of clearance . Conditions beyond the individual 's control can be mitigating , '' said Jennifer Dorsey , a spokeswoman for the government 's Office of Personnel Management . But an inability to satisfy debts can be grounds for denying an employee a security clearance , according to the Pentagon 's published guidelines . `` An individual who is financially overextended is at risk of having to engage in illegal acts to generate funds , '' the guidelines say , `` including espionage . '' Financial problems were the reason double-agent Robert Hanssen , one of the most damaging spies in American history , started selling secrets to the Soviets in the 1980s , according to Eric O'Neill , the former FBI counter-espionage agent who helped catch him . O'Neill said even if the financial difficulties are not the government employee 's fault , they can make a worker vulnerable . `` Foreign agents are looking for that , '' he said . `` It 's not hard . You can pull the credit report on just about anybody , and you look at them and realize , wow , they are in enormous debt . '' Then , O'Neill says , a foreign agent might approach the target -- say by following the employee after work to a bar -- and offer to pay for secrets . He says the agent might say , `` 'Hey , I 've got a solution to your problems . Just give me something little , and I 'll give you some money , and you 'll make ends meet this month . ' `` The revoking of clearances , recently highlighted by ProPublica and The Washington Post , could be costing the country valuable employees . As an example , Cohen cited a client , whom he declined to name , who may lose her security clearance because of foreclosure . `` She 's a highly-trained person , '' he said . `` And she 'd be difficult to replace . So not only are people losing their jobs , the government is losing the services of good people they need . '' Fran Townsend , the former Homeland Security adviser under President George W. Bush , says when officials discover vulnerable employees , `` the first order of business is always to try and save that person 's clearance , and therefore job . But I can see now , during this period , where this is probably a much more serious concern for investigators . ''
Some are being turned down for new assignments over time . Others have been stripped of their security privileges . A double agent started selling secrets to Soviets after war ended , expert ##ly .