[SkyMarshal]

A lot of them also obtain US Govt security clearances, and it's a bit of a process to obtain and something of an achievement in and of itself.

But the ones I know also take the responsibility seriously, and I can't help but wonder if that influences some of them to spend more time with each other where they don't have to watch what they say, and less with the "outside" world where they have to be a little more on guard.

[acchow]

If you're born and raised in America, with a clean record, and sane, shouldn't getting clearance be easy?

[Derander]

First, in order to get a clearance you have to be sponsored. Companies have a limited number of sponsorship slots allocated to them by the government.

Then, the process behind getting cleared is fairly arduous. You may have a clean record but you have to prove it exhaustively even for the lowest level of clearance -- I believe the application form is on the order of 40 pages. You have to list all of your friends and sexual relations from the past 10 years, for instance, so that they can go an interview every single one of them.

Essentially, being born and raised in america and having a clean record while being sane is just a baseline requirement.