Not just that, but how do these disparate government agencies verify that so-and-so checking into the local agency office is actually cleared for SECRET or TS o

Not just that, but how do these disparate government agencies verify that so-and-so checking into the local agency office is actually cleared for SECRET or TS or whatever? They have to look it up somehow. That lookup will likely involve a computer database, and the pathway to reach that database will likely involve the Internet. Practically all the rest of this sad story follows immediately, because the whole strategy of how the government handles computerized records in general is all screwed up. Even after this I'm not sure it will get better... the trend in government is for inexorable centralization of related information. At the same time there's incredible demand to have those work-related systems available online and all the time, so that people can work while on duty travel, or from home. Obviously there are technical things that can be done to mostly have our cake and eat it too (VPNs, redacted mirrors/views of the sensitive central database to be made available across the public Internet, etc.). But no one gets promoted in the government for doing that, and much of the talent is at Google or Facebook or Silicon Valley anyways :P.