Former high ranking govt players are sometimes called in at a moments notice on current issues, with no time to renew a clearance.
Example: Say there’s a CIA station chief who has worked on Country X his entire life. He retires. There’s a flare up, and though his replacement is good, he doesn’t have a lifetime of connections and contacts. You call the old guy in to help out. If the FROG (friendly retired old guy) has kept his clearance, you can spin him up instantly. Getting a new clearance takes months.
Getting a new clearance takes months.
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True BUT when we got transferred we ‘lost’ our clearance and when reporting to new duty station were given an interim clearance while they made sure you were still ‘pure’.
Security clearances were ‘always’ on a NEED TO KNOW basis, and I guess these guys may be right, it costs them if it gets pulled but WHY should a ‘former’ anything be allowed access to materials so he can dispense them over the air?
Even if they DON’T ‘use’ it, it is there and prospective employers can think it is at your fingertips.
Why would anyone want a traitor messing with secure data? As for revoking security as a matter of policy, does the FROG lose his marbles when not in possession of super secret documents? Finally, how often are these guys called back and need top security clearance. It’s a bunch of BS as far as I am concerned. IMOHO