Yes. Getting a security clearance WAS once a serious matter. You WOULD actually be investigated by someone who knew what they were doing, and if you had issues, there was a reasonable chance they would be revealed.
Since the Clintons took over the White House in 1993, the security process went into the dumpster and never came out. It was as if the floodgates had opened. (See Gary Aldrich’s take on this in “Unlimited Access”)
There was a time being an open homosexual was not only a disqualifier for any kind of security clearance, you would have been ejected from the military without much preamble.
The fact of the matter is, allowing open homosexuality (or even unverified “look the other way” homosexuality as in DADT) not only does not fix the problem, it makes it worse. The reason is, that there are still people who don’t want it to be known that they engage in homosexual activity, even if one was able to do it openly.
That leaves people open for blackmail. That may well have happened in this case, postulated by people who don’t believe he did this alone. The sexual blackmail angle is thousands of years old, and works just as well today as it did back then.
Since the Clintons took over the White House in 1993, the security process went into the dumpster and never came out. It was as if the floodgates had opened. (See Gary Aldrich’s take on this in “Unlimited Access”)
There was a time being an open homosexual was not only a disqualifier for any kind of security clearance, you would have been ejected from the military without much preamble.
In those days of yore, the FBI would actually go out in the field and interview everyone you put on references, and their friends as well. What Clinton changed was the field work - since then, the FBI only calls the people you put down to verify you have some connection to who you claim to be — in short, they operate exactly like the “drive by media.”
FBI: Hello. Are you Bob Jones?
“Bob Jones”: Yep.
FBI: Do you know Bradley Manning who is in the US Army (branch).
“Bob Jones”: Yep.
FBI: Thanks for you cooperation. Good by.
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FBI Security Clearance Report on Bradley Manning:
On the basis our 5 minute background check, we deem a TS-CW clearance to Bradley Manning is warranted. Cleared to work as Signals Analyst for US Army (branch). Clearance granted: Top Secret Code Word.