Security Clearance facts

While investigating facts about Security Clearance Levels and Security Clearance Jobs, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Serial killer John Wayne Gacy (killing at least 33 young men) was very active in local community activities. As a result of his contributions, he met and was photographed with then-First Lady Rosalynn Carter and given special security clearance by the secret service.

how to get security clearance?

Johnny Cash had a unique ability for deciphering Morse code and was given top security clearance in the Air Force during the Cold War, intercepting Soviet messages

What security clearance do i have?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what's security clearance. Here are 20 of the best facts about Security Clearance Requirements and Security Clearance Uk I managed to collect.

what do they look at security clearance?

1. Qian Xuesen, a Chinese aerospace engineer who was a founding member of JPL. When he was stripped of his security clearances during the Red Scare despite protests by his colleagues, he moved back to China where he became well known as the "Father of Chinese Rocketry"

2. Charlton Heston narrated for highly classified military and Department of Energy instructional films, particularly relating to nuclear weapons. For six years, he held the nation's highest security clearance.

3. In 2005 and 2006, the U.S Department of Defence issued espionage warnings after mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters were planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances. It turned out that the coins were ordinary Canadian quarters.

4. His opposition to the development of the hydrogen bomb led to his loss of his security clearance in 1954 which effectively barred him from further nuclear research.

5. Christopher Boyce, a college drop out who despised the CIA was given high level security clearance to handle top secret CIA wires. He then sold these top level secrets to the Soviet Union through its embassy in Mexico City. The story was a top selling book and movie "The Falcon and the Snowman"

6. The security clearance category above "top secret" is "sensitive compartmented information", and provides access to intelligence that requires restricted handling within compartmented channels. Those with such clearance have access to spy information such as intelligence sources and methods.

7. Ted N. "Twig" Branch, Chief of Naval Intelligence, lost his security clearance in November of 2013 due to alleged involvement in a bribery scandal. Branch has neither been charged nor cleared, leading to a situation where he has held his post but is unable to perform his duties.

8. There is a secret airline called "Janet" that operates out of Las Vegas' McCarran Airport which transports contractors and government workers to and from the Nevada National Security Site (Area 51). Flight attendants must have top secret security clearance.

9. More than 4.3 million people in the U.S have security clearances

Why security clearance is required?

You can easily fact check why is my security clearance taking so long by examining the linked well-known sources.

People with security clearance in the US are subjected to "continuous evaluation, where . . . we have a way of monitoring their behavior, both their electronic behavior on the job as well as off the job"

The President of the United States does not have and is not required to obtain a security clearance. - source

In 2016,In an effort to seek divine intervention to keep a flight safe and secure, staff of the Pakistan International Airlines sacrificed a black goat for charity near an ATR-42 aircraft in after it was given clearance for take-off from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport. - source

NATO really has a "Cosmic Top Secret" security clearance. It is the highest level. Aliens?

Over 1.5 million people have Top Secret security clearance, almost half of them private contractors; 5.1 million have Secret/Confidential clearance. - source

When does my security clearance expire?

Becoming an elected official automatically qualifies individuals for advance security clearance

How to obtain security clearance?

You can read the reasons the DoD denies or grants security clearances

All FBI employees require a Top Secret (TS) security clearance, and in many instances, employees need a TS/SCI (Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information) clearance.