There are many of us on FreeRepublic that held the highest of security clearances while in the military (mine was NATO Cosmic/TS when I was stationed in Germany). Just having that clearance could be a white knuckler. To tell you the truth, I doubt I ever saw material that reached that level, which was fine with me.
The major benefit to my (and my batter) was the ability to act as Army Liasion Officer during tac evals at Hahn AB. I was one of only two officers that had a TS, and the Battery CO had a much more important job. I've got many stories (unclassified, of course) from my days in there, but they're interesting only to myself...lol.
There really needs to be a crackdown on these abuses, it is such a mess in DC. Dozens of perp walk would be a good start, but I also remember the lenient treatment accorded Sandy Berger...he can rot in Hell as far as I'm concerned.
“batter” s/b “battery”, sorry.