[drew]

^ if the worst of it is that her good friend is a drug dealer, then meh.

If her security clearance denial is based on that scenario, and it appears to have been somewhat known prior, she really has nothing personally to want to hide, and honestly, yes by all rights she should be free to argue her case to an independent 3rd party.

Quite frankly, sometimes having the perspective of the other side of the law is something that would be of benefit to this Board, not a hindrance. Especially if if the person in question has a clean record.