NO ONE outside the Govt. should have a security clearance! There are a MILLION out there...a MILLION!
There’s over a million people with ‘Top Secret’ clearance.
There are another three million with ‘Confidential/Secret’ clearance.
With that many people involved, there are no secrets, just a lot of stuff the government won’t confirm. Intel agencies create fake secrets to mix them up with real leaked secrets. That makes it just a guessing game to outsiders.
Hillary kept hers long after she was out of government, maybe still does.
There are plenty of defense contractors out there with security clearances. This is perfectly fine. A clearance is an administrative background check that permits a person to receive classified information up to that clearance level.
Just because you have a clearance however, doesn't mean you get access to any piece of classified information. You get access to information on a need to know basis, as in, you have a job related to the government, and you need the information in order to do your job.
There's no reason why Clapper and Comey should have access to classified information since leaving the government.
For a while I worked on the Tomahawk Cruise missile. I had a TS security clearance because I had to know things about how a nuclear warhead would fit in the missile.
I was not in the government.
Suggestions on how I could do my job without the clearance?