Pardon my French, but WHF is “ potential espionage”? Are they really going to imprison people for “potential” anything? Didn’t somebody make a movie about that, I think it was called Minority Report.
To elaborate on the “potential” part of 0’s statement:
A person with a clearance is vulnerable when he engages in activity that opens him up to blackmail.
Examples that come to mind are excessive drinking, gambling, things that get him in debt or behavior that can be exploited by the agency that is trying to get access to the information that the clearance holder has.
People can get their clearances yanked for just the behavior, with no signs that some agent has tried to “turn” them.
No clearance, no job.
Depending on the activity, and the impact on national security, even without getting turned, its entirely possible to find a law being broken, and then charges brought.
The world of security clearances is VERY Orwellian, even before 0.