Security clearances held by millions of Americans
An Army private leaks information to a whistleblower website. A defense contractor leaks information on intelligence gathering by the National Security Agency.
They are just two of almost 5 million people holding a government security clearance, federal documents show.
A January report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence says more than 4.9 million people have some sort of government security clearance. About 1.4 million of those lay claim to "top secret" clearance.
Army Pvt. Bradley Manning created an uproar when he admitted turning over hundreds of thousands of classified Army reports and U.S. diplomatic cables to the website WikiLeaks, which then created a firestorm by publishing the information. His court martial began last week.
Now comes Edward Snowden, a former CIA technical assistant turned intelligence contractor, releasing detailed information on intelligence gathering by the National Security Agency that included access to phone records of millions of Americans.
Most, but far from all, security clearances are held by government workers. They hold 2,757,333 "confidential/secret" clearances and 791,200 clearances designated as "top secret." Contractors claim 582,524 "confidential" clearances and 483,263 "top secret" ones. There is another general category of people who hold 167,925 "confidential/secret" clearances and 135,506 top secret.
A GAO report in July blasted the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for failing to provide uniform policies to "determine eligibility for access to classified information."
The NSA says its hiring practices include background investigations designed to "determine the applicant's honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, discretion, and unquestioned loyalty to the United States."
The investigations verify mundane information such as previous employment, education and residence. Interviews are conducted with an applicants's friends, neighbors, supervisors and co-workers. Criminal and credit checks are also conducted.