"As many as 4 million people hold "top secret" security clearance, of which 500,000 are private contractors. One reason for this trend is that the U.S. government has become so reflexive about classifying information, much of which is not nearly as sensitive as an NSA spying program, that clearance are required even for totally banal work."
Beautiful. Reminds me of the way that RIPA legislation in the UK to regulate covert investigation by police and secret services ended up being used by 800-odd bodies, including the odd local authority that used it to police potential abuse of school catchment areas by parents.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/06/12...