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They want to know deeply personal details about your life, show up at your neighbour's and friends doors to question them, have explicit control over where you

They want to know deeply personal details about your life, show up at your neighbour's and friends doors to question them, have explicit control over where you can travel on your vacation, deeply care about what you do in your free time, and mishandled all of it -- all in the vague guise of preventing blackmail and sabotage. The blackmail and sabotage argument, as near as I can tell, is a farce because our enemies and "friends" are engaged in massive corporate espionage. If it were a real concern to them than they would use thier powers to require the same level of scrutiny on the private sector. In addition to that they say be truthful so you don't have anything to hide to prevent possible blackmail by foreign powers, but in reality it's the truthful ones who don't make it through the process. I've come to the conclusion that it's really just about having an excuse deny employment to "people not like us."

qwertyuiop924 10y ago
Man, and I though Snow Crash's portrayal of the feds was wildly exaggerated. Guess it was significantly less exaggerated that I thought.
icantdrive55 10y ago
They need to stop showing up at neighbors doors. My neighbor was supposedly applying for a federal job that required clearance. These people would come by, and try to talk to me. I had no idea who they were. I didnt want to talk to them. I thought they were a creditor of mine.(need to finish a chapter 7). Anyways, one left a little note, and I finally figured out who they were--I think? I wouldn't put it past a slimy process server? What am I suspose to tell the Feds about a neighbor who moved in a few months ago. I don't even know my long term neighbors, nor really care to? The federal government needs to realize people don't know their neighbors like they did in the past; or if you happen to find a nosey one--you do not want their assessments. "I think I smelled the devil's lettuce?" "Their dod pooped in my yard?" "I don't like his old truck." If this is how they do backround checks, NSA is not doing a good job. I don't like NSA, but use that information if it's just sitting around on a server?
utnick 10y ago
Its pretty backwards if you think about it, if the places you go or people you know or mistakes you make, can easily make you lose your security clearance and therefore your career could be ruined, it makes you much easier to blackmail than under a system that was more laissez-faire
- JustSomeNobody 10y ago
  Hmmm... If that were true we'd have lots of empirical evidence, so I'd like to see some link to that.
  - pdkl95 10y ago
    > we'd have lots of empirical evidence That assumes there would be many attempts at this kind of blackmail, and that any attempts that did occur were discovered and documented. > I'd like to see some link to that. Even if the conditions above were satisfied (which I find highly unlikely), this assumes that we (the public) have access to the documentation.
- GrinningFool 10y ago
  I think the idea is more like if you are able to pass those clearances , you are less likely to find yourself in a future position that would compromise them. Similar to the belief that a high credit score shows that you're more likely to pay your bills and not abuse your credit - because you haven't so far.
mistermann 10y ago
> show up at your neighbour's and friends doors to question them I think there's a lot of people that would like the associated intrigue that would come with this, it may be a cheaper way of hiring good developers that have a bit of a vanity streak.

qwertyuiop924 10y ago

Man, and I though Snow Crash's portrayal of the feds was wildly exaggerated. Guess it was significantly less exaggerated that I thought.

icantdrive55 10y ago

They need to stop showing up at neighbors doors. My neighbor was supposedly applying for a federal job that required clearance. These people would come by, and try to talk to me. I had no idea who they were. I didnt want to talk to them. I thought they were a creditor of mine.(need to finish a chapter 7). Anyways, one left a little note, and I finally figured out who they were--I think? I wouldn't put it past a slimy process server? What am I suspose to tell the Feds about a neighbor who moved in a few months ago. I don't even know my long term neighbors, nor really care to? The federal government needs to realize people don't know their neighbors like they did in the past; or if you happen to find a nosey one--you do not want their assessments. "I think I smelled the devil's lettuce?" "Their dod pooped in my yard?" "I don't like his old truck." If this is how they do backround checks, NSA is not doing a good job. I don't like NSA, but use that information if it's just sitting around on a server?

utnick 10y ago

Its pretty backwards if you think about it, if the places you go or people you know or mistakes you make, can easily make you lose your security clearance and therefore your career could be ruined, it makes you much easier to blackmail than under a system that was more laissez-faire

JustSomeNobody 10y ago
Hmmm... If that were true we'd have lots of empirical evidence, so I'd like to see some link to that.
- pdkl95 10y ago
  > we'd have lots of empirical evidence That assumes there would be many attempts at this kind of blackmail, and that any attempts that did occur were discovered and documented. > I'd like to see some link to that. Even if the conditions above were satisfied (which I find highly unlikely), this assumes that we (the public) have access to the documentation.
GrinningFool 10y ago
I think the idea is more like if you are able to pass those clearances , you are less likely to find yourself in a future position that would compromise them. Similar to the belief that a high credit score shows that you're more likely to pay your bills and not abuse your credit - because you haven't so far.

mistermann 10y ago

> show up at your neighbour's and friends doors to question them I think there's a lot of people that would like the associated intrigue that would come with this, it may be a cheaper way of hiring good developers that have a bit of a vanity streak.