You are correct. I spent almost 5 years as a GS-11 doing security background investigations for DIS and any lies on the security questionnaire or found during the background investigation would, at the minimum, result in months of delays in the completion of the case. One guy I investigated was up for a TS at a warehouse that handled materials for a secret aircraft manufacturer and lied about his wife’s background, (she was a Vietnamese refugee), and about his receiving welfare money for her under her maiden name. He never got the clearance because of this.
I almost lost my TS clearance while on active duty (USAF 1974-1983) because I blanked the daughter of a Czechoslovakian ambassador once. OSI came to my barracks to confront me about it and let me know that any further contact with her would be detrimental to my clearances. I never saw her again. Hillary had the daughter and sister to members of the Muslim Brotherhood overseeing her every move at the State Department. I just shake my head.