Case: 25-1380 Document: 28 Page: 1 Filed: 12/03/2025

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

SHANAE M. MILLER, Petitioner

v.

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE, Respondent ______________________

2025-1380 ______________________

Petition for review of the Merit Systems Protection Board in No. DA-0752-21-0010-I-1. ______________________

Decided: December 3, 2025 ______________________

SHANAE M. MILLER, Schertz, TX, pro se.

ISABELLE AUBRUN, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Wash- ington, DC, for respondent. Also represented by ALBERT S. IAROSSI, PATRICIA M. MCCARTHY, BRETT SHUMATE. ______________________

Before LOURIE, SCHALL, and STOLL, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM. Case: 25-1380 Document: 28 Page: 2 Filed: 12/03/2025

2 MILLER v. AIR FORCE

Shanae Miller petitions for review of the final decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board (“Board”) affirming the decision of the Department of the Air Force (“Air Force”) to remove her from her position after her security clearance was revoked. Miller v. Dep’t of the Air Force, No. DA-0752-21-0010-I-1 (Dec. 18, 2024). For the following reasons, we affirm the Board’s final decision. BACKGROUND Ms. Miller obtained a Secret security clearance in No- vember of 2010 pursuant to the requirements of her posi- tion at the time as a GS-7 Acquisition Program Manager in the Air Force. See S. App. 19.1 In March of 2016, Ms. Miller accepted a tentative selection offer for a GS-12 Acquisition Program Manager position at Lackland Air Force Base (“AFB”). Id. Because the Lackland AFB position required a higher level (Top-Secret) security clearance than the clearance she presently held, she completed a Question- naire for National Security Positions (SF-86), and the Air Force initiated a background investigation. See id. at 19– 20. While the investigation was pending, Ms. Miller de- clined the offer with Lackland AFB and instead accepted a promotion to a GS-13 Acquisition Program Manager posi- tion at Wright Patterson AFB, a position that did not re- quire a Top-Secret security clearance, but did require a Secret security clearance. Id. at 20; S. App. 102. However, the background investigation for Ms. Miller’s Top-Secret security clearance continued. S. App. 20. The Office of Personnel Management completed Ms. Miller’s background investigation in February of 2017. Id. The Department of Defense Consolidated Adjudications Facility (“DoD CAF”) issued a letter on October 11, 2017, notifying Ms. Miller of its preliminary decision to revoke

1 “S. App.” refers to the Supplemental Appendix filed by Respondent. Case: 25-1380 Document: 28 Page: 3 Filed: 12/03/2025

MILLER v. AIR FORCE 3

both her eligibility to access classified information and her assignment to duties that have been designated national security sensitive. Id. DoD CAF’s Statement of Reasons (“SOR”) supporting its decision explained that Ms. Miller had a history of delinquent debts and that she had failed to report her delinquent debts in the SF-86 that she had sub- mitted in connection with the Lackland AFB application. Id.; S. App. 224–26. Ms. Miller responded to the SOR on April 18, 2018. S. App. 20. In June of 2018, Ms. Miller was reassigned to a GS-13 Program Manager position at Randolph AFB. Id. Later that year, she was reassigned to a GS-13 Career Field Ad- ministrator position at Randolph AFB. Id. As a condition of her employment in that role, she was required to main- tain eligibility to serve in a noncritical-sensitive position. Id. at 21. On July 26, 2019, DoD CAF issued its final decision re- voking Ms. Miller’s eligibility for access to classified infor- mation, her eligibility for assignment to duties that have been designated national security sensitive, and her eligi- bility for access to Sensitive Compartmented Information. Id. at 20; S. App. 208. Ms. Miller’s appeal of that decision to the Air Force Personnel Security Appeal Board was de- nied. S. App. 20. The Air Force consequently removed Ms. Miller from her position as a GS-13 Career Field Administrator at Ran- dolph AFB, effective September 16, 2020, because of her loss of eligibility to occupy a noncritical-sensitive position. Id. at 21; S. App. 109. Ms. Miller filed an appeal with the Board. In the Board’s initial decision, the administrative judge (“AJ”) assigned to the case determined that the Air Force had met its burden to prove that: (1) Ms. Miller’s position was classified as noncritical sensitive; (2) her eligibility to occupy a noncritical-sensitive position had been revoked; (3) she was provided with the required procedural Case: 25-1380 Document: 28 Page: 4 Filed: 12/03/2025

4 MILLER v. AIR FORCE

protections; and (4) there is no Air Force policy entitling Ms. Miller to be reassigned to a nonsensitive position. S. App. 21–25. The AJ also determined that Ms. Miller failed to prove harmful error in the application of the Air Force’s procedures, id. at 25–28, and that the Air Force’s removal of Ms. Miller promoted the efficiency of the service, id. at 28–30. Ms. Miller petitioned for review of the initial decision. On December 18, 2024, the Board issued a Final Order af- firming the initial decision except with respect to the deci- sion’s analysis of Ms. Miller’s allegations regarding the Air Force’s compliance with its own procedures in conducting the security clearance investigation process, which the Board vacated as outside the scope of the Board’s jurisdic- tion. S. App. 8–10. The AJ’s initial decision, as supple- mented by the Board’s Final Order, therefore became the final decision of the Board. Id. at 11. Ms. Miller timely appealed. We have jurisdiction un- der 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(9). DISCUSSION The scope of our review of an appeal from a Board de- cision is limited by statute. We may set aside a Board de- cision only if it is “(1) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; (2) ob- tained without procedures required by law, rule, or regula- tion having been followed; or (3) unsupported by substantial evidence.” 5 U.S.C. § 7703(c). We review the Board’s legal determinations de novo and its underlying factual findings for substantial-evidence support. Torres v. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., 88 F.4th 1379, 1382–83 (Fed. Cir. 2023). Substantial evidence is “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Id. at 1383 (citation omitted). The Board’s review of adverse actions stemming from security clearance determinations is limited to Case: 25-1380 Document: 28 Page: 5 Filed: 12/03/2025

MILLER v. AIR FORCE 5

determining (1) “whether a security clearance was denied,” (2) “whether the security clearance was a requirement for [the] appellant’s position,” and (3) “whether the procedures set forth in [§] 7513 were followed.” Hornseth v. Dep’t of the Navy, 916 F.3d 1369, 1373–74 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (second alteration in original) (quoting Hesse v. Dep’t of State, 217 F.3d 1372, 1376 (Fed. Cir. 2000)). Ms. Miller’s primary argument before us is that her re- moval was improper because the position from which she was removed—GS-13 Career Field Administrator—did not in fact require a Top-Secret or Secret security clearance and instead was merely classified as noncritical sensitive. Petitioner’s Br. 4–9.2 According to Ms. Miller, the position description for that job did not require a security clearance, and she never had access to classified information while working in that position. Id. at 2–7. In other words, Ms. Miller takes issue with the Board’s determination that a “security clearance” was a requirement for her position as Career Field Administrator because that position was clas- sified as noncritical sensitive. We have previously explained, however, that the Board’s authority, and correspondingly, our authority, is restricted not only with respect to challenges to determina- tions pertaining to security clearances, but also with re- spect to challenges to determinations pertaining to positions classified as noncritical sensitive. Kaplan v. Co- nyers, 733 F.3d 1148, 1151, 1155–66 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (en banc) (noting limitations on the Board’s review with re- spect to “determinations concerning eligibility of an em- ployee to occupy a ‘sensitive’ position, regardless of whether the position requires access to classified infor- mation”); see Brown v. Dep’t of Def., 646 F. App’x 989, 992 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (“In cases concerning the denial of

2 Our citations to Ms. Miller’s brief refer to the page numbers generated by this court’s CM/ECF system. Case: 25-1380 Document: 28 Page: 6 Filed: 12/03/2025

6 MILLER v. AIR FORCE

eligibility to occupy a sensitive position, our review is . . . limited to determinations relating to whether an agency properly followed its own internal procedures.”). Ms. Miller was removed from her position as a Career Field Administrator at Randolph AFB. S. App. 21; S. App. 108. In its final decision, the Board found that that posi- tion was classified as noncritical sensitive and that Ms. Miller’s eligibility to occupy a noncritical-sensitive position had been revoked. S. App. 21–22 (citing S. App. 241, 246). The Board also determined that Ms. Miller had been af- forded the appropriate procedural protections. Id. at 24. We see no error in the Board’s determinations, which are supported by substantial evidence. To the extent Ms. Mil- ler challenges the Air Force’s classification of the Career Field Administrator position as noncritical sensitive or the DoD’s determination concerning her eligibility to occupy a noncritical-sensitive position, we lack the authority to re- view such challenges. See Kaplan, 733 F.3d at 1151, 1160. CONCLUSION We have considered Ms. Miller’s other arguments and find them unpersuasive. For the foregoing reasons, we af- firm the Board’s final decision. AFFIRMED COSTS No costs.