Having a clearance does not grant you the ability to look at all classified information. You are only granted the ability to look at information up to your clea

Having a clearance does not grant you the ability to look at all classified information. You are only granted the ability to look at information up to your clearance level and for which you have a need to know. Actually, they're probably more spied upon, given the mandatory background checks involved and even interviews with neighbors. Additionally, people with clearances aren't even supposed to look at things like the Snowden revelations because it qualifies as data spillage even though it's already out in the world. 99% of the people with a security clearance are just as "distrusted, disdained, ignored, and spied upon" as the rest of the country, to the extent that is true at all.