Seems to me that a security clearance is a legal means for the government to stifle free speech, which is accepted voluntarily.
Security clearances are quite valuable if you wish to be employed by a company that has government contracts.
But THAT is NOT what is driving these characters totally loony toons.
Security clearances are not normally revoked for any well behaved clearance holder. (Though some can expire.)
“The Need to Know” is the normal gate control for classified information. If your Government Approved “Need to Know” matches your security clearance, then you get to know.
BUT...
When a security clearance is REVOKED, it triggers an Automatic Review of everything. (Everything, as in ALL Comms, public and private. Financial transaction records. Travel records. You know, as in “We Have it ALL”.)
Them’s just the rules.
People with high level security clearances know things. Determination of risk must be performed. Assessment of mitigation strategies. Much to be done when a high level clearance is actually revoked.
You see, to even get a high level security clearance in the first place, one has to agree to all of this. Up Front. On the Dotted Line. You get to be an open book if you screw up.
National Security is at stake, after all.
Now do these public meltdowns begin to make sense?
If a secuity clearance is mandatory to ensure free speech, I need one, too, for no particular reason other than having a cool but required accessory to ensure I maintain free speech.
Free speech is stifled only with regard to the classified material.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)