WEBVTT - How Secure are Security Clearances? 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.720 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:09.119 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.079 learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:25.560 production of My Heart Radio. Hello, welcome back to the show. 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.200 My name is Matt, my name is Nol and they 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.920 called me Ben. We're joined as always with our super producer, 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:36.040 Mr Matt Frederick. Most importantly, you are you. You are here, 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.199 and that makes this the stuff they don't want you 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.320 to know. So this is a follow up episode, folks, 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:46.640 we did uh we previously looked at the absolute messy 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:51.640 Bollos spaghetti that is federal classification, How it got there, 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.280 why no one really wants to fix it now, just 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.920 because you know it's like legacy code. It's so precarious, 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.640 and I I cursed a lot in that episode, just 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:05.840 because you know it's uh in in saying how how 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.080 strange the situation is. That would be a fun experiment. 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:13.800 Give one person uh Ubert clearance to be able to 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.399 see everything right, and then they get to go through 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:22.360 everything that's ever ever been classified top secret down and 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:24.480 just like go through it and what is necessary and 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.200 what is not? Make do it? Maybe Jagger right he 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.520 probably got pretty close and used it, used it for 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:34.480 nefarious ends. Yes, Jagger Hoover was basically running the FBI 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:36.800 like a mob. That sounds like a monkey's park on 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.039 a scenario the two because like you'd find out so 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:41.400 much it would break your brain and then you would 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.560 just like you know, go postal in some very profound 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.080 and alarming way. Well, I mean, we could let Charlie 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.360 do it. Charlie Day would do it, or you know 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.520 what's Jared Kushner up to right now? Oh? Boy? Yeah, 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:58.400 that's a that's a billion dollar question, isn't it. Uh. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:00.640 This follow up answers some of the questions that we 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:06.480 left off with. In federal Classification. We didn't get to 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:11.840 the part about security clearances. We talked about how things 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.680 are secret and why the concept of secrecy is so slippy. 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.040 We also learned a lot about Dagastani weddings, which was 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:23.520 apparently top secret or classified. Uh. But today we're gonna 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:28.079 look at how people actually get official access to this information. 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:32.200 So here are the facts. First thing, first, what what 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:36.040 is a security clearance like in real life? Well, here 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.640 in the United States, and security clearance is the official 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:43.840 um designation given to an individual UH in terms of 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:48.400 their level of access to varying types of classified information 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.720 within differing parts of the government. It allows them to 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:55.760 kind of, you know, it's silos information to different individuals 0:02:56.000 --> 0:03:02.200 who qualify UH for these various security so it's very hierarchical. 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.360 In other words, access at one level UM gives you 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.800 access to the information at lower levels, but not you know, 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:14.120 the other way around. Yeah, so if you if you 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:17.480 get a secret clearance, then you odds are you're going 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.120 to have access to stuff that's less sensitive like classified 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.799 stuff as well. But if you just have a UM, 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:26.960 if you just have a number of clearances that are 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:31.760 like public trust clearance or just regular classified, then no, 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:33.880 you're not in the room where they talk about top 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:36.360 secret stuff. And the weirdest thing is, you know, a 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.400 lot of if you're going back to your idea the 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.920 one guy, the one guy or the one person, I 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.400 think what would surprise them the most be Yeah, there's 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.680 some horrific, frightening stuff, but a lot of it probably 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.680 doesn't matter to the average person, you know what I mean. 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:54.160 It's like, oh, we we have a line on you know, 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:59.080 the chocolate futures in insert company here. Most people aren't 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.720 gonna care, right, aren't going to be able to capitalize 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.520 on that, But they might come in handy for the 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.280 next coup though, just say yeah, yeah, the next the 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:12.080 chocolate coup. They'll call it, uh, this chocolate cous It 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.400 would be great. Yeah, it's chocolate coup already a thing 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:18.039 someone have that. I don't think so, I think it's 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.920 just chocolate range chocolate. Yeah, yeah, okay, no, chocolate coup 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.800 totally different. So so we have to remember, like, no, 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.839 you're correct. We have to also remember that secret clearance 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:35.240 for one agency or again fiefdom, does not necessarily mean 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:40.680 you have access to information other agencies consider secret. On paper, 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:45.520 they're supposed to the credit transfer of background check is 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.520 supposed to work, but that's not always the case, especially 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.880 when you get to the really sticky stuff. So how 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.440 do you get a security clearance? You have to be vetted. 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:58.520 There's a background investigation. Shout out to anybody who's had 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.360 one of those. They go pretty deep depending on your 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:03.920 level of clearance. Well, and you could think about this 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:08.120 too in maybe more of a workplace kind of situation. 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.640 Let's not connect to the government, like let's say somebody 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:14.000 works for a nuclear power plant, you know, it's that 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.600 you don't you don't have access to certain areas unless 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.680 you get clearance. And those clearances, because you're working with 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:26.760 potentially dangerous materials, do require significant background checks and regular 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.039 drug tests and all of that kind of stuff. So 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.800 there's there's some cross over there, but it's probably not 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.440 like something you've experienced unless you have had work in 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.640 one of those really dangerous, you know, situations right where 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:41.159 you're handling materials. The background checks I've had probably have 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.040 never gotten close to the level that you'd get if 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.280 you were going for a clearance, no question. I mean, 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:48.320 I think maybe all of us at some point had 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.720 to just get like a right to work background check, 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.039 you know, or had to present some sort of citizenship 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:59.159 documents or whatever just to satisfy certain legal criterias for corporations. 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.400 But it's probably about the extent of it for me. Man, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:04.640 My understand is, you you need like this is like 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.840 talking to your friends and loved ones and like a 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.640 physical human being hanging out and going, hey, so what 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.320 do you know about this Noel Brown character? Right? You've 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.520 seen it in fiction, and it's actually not too far away. 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:21.200 In some cases, Uh, they might you might let's say, 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:26.440 I might get a call from someone who says, we're, uh, 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.839 we're evaluating nod friend of yours, Matthew Frederick, and uh, 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.600 just like to ask you some questions. We understand that 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.720 he played in a in a musical outfit called Lions 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:43.200 and Scissors. Is that correct to your knowledge? And they 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:48.200 were good. They not slap, I mean a little the fiction. 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:50.840 They're like, there's something interesting here because he's a co 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:55.440 writer on you know, track seven. Uh, and just like 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.320 to read these lyrics and get gone confirmed whether or 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:03.080 not he was involved ideologically with the message of this song. 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.719 Usually it's not. He was just but but they will 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.840 look into you know, your foreign contacts. They will, we'll 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.400 we'll get into all the stuff they'll look into. Uh. 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.200 And the drummer is the most important party. When people 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.080 say just the drummer, frontmen need to deal with that. 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.680 The drummer is the most important part. Oh, you frontmen 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:26.440 out there, stop front but your ego and check so 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:31.120 uh while all that's happening. And yes, the last you know, 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.920 maybe your college professors, maybe even down to your grade 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:37.240 school folks. Uh, they'll check every address you lived at 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.840 and if you spend time in another country, if you 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.400 have a dual passport, forget about it. Honestly, for some 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:47.240 of this stuff, you just you can't be trusted, even 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:51.000 if your record spotless. But you you also have to 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:54.360 sign really serious n d A s uh. This one 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:59.800 is called s F three one two because governments love 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.080 doing this. It's a standard form, but that's what s 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.320 F stands for. It applies to any employee of the 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.520 government or someone who contracts out, and a lot of 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:14.600 private citizens, a lot of civilians contractors do have clearances 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.640 they have to. But then it gets this other thing. 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.400 There has to be a proven reason that you need 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.800 to know this. You need to know about this Dagastani wedding, 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:29.520 you need to know about nuclear um nuclear enrichment technology. 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.120 So they have to say, here's why you do this. 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.040 Sometimes it's a formality. That might be the easiest part 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:39.600 because there's a lot of information that gets technically classified. 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:41.760 But if you're already in a secure network because of 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.760 your job, or you're going to a lot of meetings 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.040 because of your job, you're probably gonna hear about it, 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:51.160 you know what I mean. So sometimes the need to 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.680 know is we just feel like this person is naturally 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:58.920 going to run into this, So let's make it has 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:04.680 down to one off of these clearances. Uh. But then 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:06.920 you know, the stuff I think a lot of us 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:12.439 think of from the outside looking in is special access programs, 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:17.520 compartmentalized intelligence. This stuff did not happen kind of things, 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:19.960 black bag ops. You know, how do we get that 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:27.719 cocaine over the border into Los Angeles? That's that's that 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.320 didn't happen. Right officially, that's what the courts will tell you. 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:36.520 But I don't know, like how far how far should 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:39.720 you go for security clearance? Just the idea spooks some 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.520 people out, honestly. You know, they've got polygraphs sometimes even 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:47.000 though that's not solid science. Uh, in a lot of ways, right, 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:51.480 like how like you said, in all the deepest background check, Um, 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.680 they might have it at jobs like some n d A, 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.839 some basic prove you have a Social Security number in 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:59.959 the US birth certificate stuff. But it can go deeper 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:05.199 when you get a mortgage right or alone. Right, mortgages 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:09.839 are tough. They're like checking on your toe a nailing. Well, 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.440 not not to get too too personal, but like you know, recently, uh, 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:15.680 Matt and I both recently had to get a mortgage, 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:19.400 and um day before you know, my closing, all of 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:22.520 a sudden, there's this like five alarm kind of situation 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:27.760 where they're missing these uh details about my previous rental history. 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:31.520 And it's because I'm still renting the place and it 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:35.840 hasn't been exactly two years to the day, but it 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:39.679 will have been by the time my my lease is up. 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.920 And even though the lease says it's you know, for 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.480 this period through this period, the fact that I haven't 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.400 actually paid it doesn't match up to a payment that 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:50.880 I haven't made yet. So all of a sudden, they're like, 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.480 you gotta make the payment now, and I'm like, okay, 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.840 but I I do. I read through this property management 0:10:57.840 --> 0:10:59.600 company and I don't even know how to go about 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.840 doing that comes out and it's like after hours on 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.880 the weekend, you know, and it was just, oh my god. 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:07.480 It was bonkers. And depending on the type of loan 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:09.839 you're getting to, you're going to have to do more 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.440 and more and more stringent kind of like submit yourself 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:17.880 to more stringent background checks and and very specific situations. Sorry, 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.080 I just just triggered me because that was like I 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.720 thought I was gonna lose it. And I literally thought 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.520 I was gonna lose my mind. No, we I get it. 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:27.720 I think we've all been through some kind of weird 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.640 situation like that, right, I really quickly, I want to 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.920 bring up Secret Service and I think we've talked about 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.680 this before quickly in the past been and I just 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.040 super fast. Um, I knew a guy who went into 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:43.200 UH to become a Secret Service agent and what he 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.080 had to go through to get that position and to 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.000 get cleared for that, Like the process was so nuts. 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:52.880 He had to prove that he has never ever once 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:58.120 smoked cannabis, Like he had to prove something that he's 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:02.800 never Yeah, because I guess they're worried about his potential 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:06.839 mind state because of that drug. Like that just that 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.480 that confused me to no end. Yeah, But I mean 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.440 that's an it's also an achronistic in archaic in some ways, 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:19.080 right that that law has not caught up with recent science, 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:22.000 That law is not caught up with other laws that 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.040 decriminalize or legalized cannabis in a federal level law to 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.520 that degree is probably on the way. But that's also 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:34.800 another reason why a lot of US cyber outfits are 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:38.400 in are having a tough time because it seems like 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.680 I'm quoting an anonymous source here. It seems like all 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.840 the good hackers get high and then like and that's 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:50.680 that's a deal breaker for a lot of clearances. So 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:54.120 they're gonna have to address that at some point. Um, 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.439 here's another thing. If you live in the US or 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.280 if you follow US politics, you've heard you've heard the 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:04.040 recent hubble ub uh. Security clearances and classification got in 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.400 the news in a big way not too long ago. 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:09.960 So we're gonna just clear the air here once and 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:14.120 for all. Yes, the President of the United States, the bodus, 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:19.080 whomever that may be, does have the ability to declassify 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:23.840 previously classified information. But it's not like just yelling base 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.439 in a game of tag. You have to do stuff. 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:29.960 There is a detailed process. You can't just you know, 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.760 snap your fingers and make it so well, he can't 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.840 do it with his mind. Man. Well, that was in 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.520 the news recently for President Donald Trump. I believe it 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:42.960 came out that he made a statement that he believed 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:49.840 he could just decide what to take by thinking about it. Yeah, 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.680 so that's and that's why all these arms of the 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:59.240 US government are freaking out now because make no mistake. 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:03.240 If you had that kind of there's not malevolence, let's 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:05.920 call it negligence. If you had that kind of negligence 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.920 as a government employee, you'd be fired. You you'd be 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.640 fired and sent to jail most likely with that. With that, 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:17.200 just because of the weight he's carried. Think of it 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.080 like drugs, right, information is like a drug. And he 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.560 was moving weight. Uh, and he was moving weight the 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.520 wrong way. So yes, However, a president does have the ability, 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:32.280 through some pretty detailed processes, to declassify some previously classified stuff. 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:36.080 So why won't they tell us about the aliens? Moving on? 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.880 Moving on? Man, I could take all the classified documents 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:46.720 I want and Adidas can't drop me right the scope, 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:48.560 I have a sneaker deal. I wonder what kind of 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.040 sneakers they would be. And he's got a big red 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:55.200 tie deal. Um over long, I thought it was the 0:14:55.280 --> 0:15:00.920 same tie. But yes, no, no, it's it's true. U. Still, 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.560 the thing is that if they can't declassify it without 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.560 going through this process, if you are the president, you 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.960 do get some loopholes. You can get access to any 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.120 of the information you request, like a lot of it. Uh, 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.040 even if you would ordinarily not be able to get 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:20.760 a security clearance if you weren't president. So if you're 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:24.760 a president who says, yeah, I smoked weed and I inhaled, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.240 like former President Barack Obama, you know that knocks you 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.360 out of the running for so like he couldn't be 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:34.480 on his own secret Service detail. But because he's the president, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.840 you know, you circumvent that. So that's right, because you're 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.440 a duly elected president, all of that stuff goes by 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:46.520 the wayside, correct, Like you just have carte blotch. You 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.680 have access to all the things, a lot of them. 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.360 There's also the ideal plausible deniability because there's some stuff 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.440 you have to even if you have the vibe, you 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:00.120 have to not know about it. Uh, in case I'm 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.440 gonna start sniffing around or you get caught out. I 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:05.120 would imagine they would recommend that you not look at this. 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.600 But couldn't you also just say, na, screw that, show 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.840 me the goods you quite plausibly? Yeah, And you know 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:15.520 it's still the weird thing is it feels like there's 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:18.640 a lot of precedent there, But we have to remember 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.280 there haven't been a lot of US presidents. It's a 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.760 young country, so there's always there. There may well be 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:28.480 a plot twist on the way. And you know, but 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:32.760 until relatively recently, we seem to have had a tradition 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:37.840 of kind of following the rules and and and and 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:43.040 adhering to these kind of recommended uh standardizations. Right, yeah, 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.920 well people try. You know, the US is still in 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:49.840 the experiment phase as a country. Uh. Look, we know 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.800 that just like classification, a bunch of agencies can make 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.840 something secret or top secret, a bunch of agencies can 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:01.920 also clear people two do their stuff right to be 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:06.200 read on read into these programs. Right now, I think 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.919 the d D issues the majority of all clearances. If 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:13.760 you take all of their employees because they're huge, the Pentagons, 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.760 like the world world's biggest office building, and then you 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:21.240 take all the people who contract out, then about that 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.040 is going to be the D O T. But you know, 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:25.280 D O, E, C, I, A, all the all the 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:30.120 alphabet soup guys, they all have clearances and they're generally 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:35.360 something just hit, yeah, something just hit uh ben FBI 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:39.080 C I A A T F K K K K 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.359 K R S C and C B S wait I 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:47.240 R S NBC T N T. I was just I 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:55.840 was thinking up FBI, A, T F KKK I R, S, NBC, CBS, 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:02.040 T N T telling LIZE. Yeah, okay, okay, sorry, shout 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:06.280 out dead press. Yeah, that's that's the third verse and 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.680 a dead press. It's just that chance. It's pretty pretty sick. 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:13.200 Um dead press would not get security clearances. They say, 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.120 this is a big fan of him one and stick Man. 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.560 Uh No, they would not get clearances. Um, but if 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.800 you are a person gets clearances, they're like five types 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.080 you can get and they're they're a little bit snoozy 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.239 until you get to the end, but it's important to 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:33.240 know them. Let's hit you with it. Controlled unclassified. We 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:35.600 talked about that in the last episode, hopping over to 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.520 episode one in this series to learn about that one. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:44.400 We got a public trust position. Now that's interesting, that's 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.760 that's I don't understand that one. Yeah, it's a weird one. 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:54.399 And so so like you are, you are not getting 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:58.120 a security clearance. It's not the same as being read 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:02.320 onto confidential stuff. But you're the nature of your job 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:08.679 whatever that might be, requires access to certain sensitive information, 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:13.760 so it can't be necessarily classified. But it is something 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.680 that could be weaponized. It's something that could be dangerous, 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:19.919 So you might you might be in a public trust 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:24.680 position if you work with certain levels of infrastructure or utilities. Right, 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.119 I know how I know how to hack the water 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:33.000 treatment facility, says someone work, right, so that I can 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:35.439 make it work? Well, WHOA what the guns out? So 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.600 we can make it work? Guys. So that's one that 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.120 I think is new to a lot of us. Those 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:45.080 can be considered moderate risk or high risk in the 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:50.800 U s pt P. That's another man. Okay, Next, you've 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.600 got confidential, that's you know, something we've all heard about. 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:59.480 That's like, that's like your low tier super controlled information. Right. 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.080 Then you got secret that's above that. Gotta you gotta 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.440 have another level to reach out one. Then top secret 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:10.600 and you know that's of course the one that's the 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:14.320 most exciting usually, but it's not really the most exciting 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:19.600 stuff is compartmented. Oh yeah, don't let don't let that 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:23.760 incredibly boring name fool you. It's not a bento box. 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:27.959 It's uh, the absolutely, it's not eligible, it's the absolute 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:32.439 top secret, creme de la creme of no one can know. 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:39.040 It's called sensitive compartmented information. And this is where all 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:41.320 the badgers, this is the bag where all the all 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:44.080 the interesting badgers are. You know, we're talking about signals 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:49.200 intelligence measures and signature intelligence mass and we're talking about 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:54.880 um the US Navy control systems, the Helm of Power here, 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:59.400 electronic surveillance programs like Stellar Wind, which was another thing 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.560 people were it's supposed to know about, and those have 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:07.440 the Really, here's a question I want to put to you, guys. 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:13.159 By the time you get to compartmented information access, aren't 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:17.320 you already pretty vetted? Like I would think, because this 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:22.119 is only case by case stuff. If you are read 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:26.640 onto some red into some aspect of Stellar Wind, then 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:32.639 you are not automatically read into any other hypothetical s 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.160 c I thing like you know, if they've been secretly 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:39.359 hunting Bigfoot or sixty years and there's a crack team 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:44.640 of neo Neanderthals who are participating in that search, you're 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:46.760 not going to know about it unless you get read 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:51.080 into that program. I was, Stellar Wind is a huge 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:54.080 surveillance thing. Everyone should be mad about it. Yeah that, 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:57.119 I mean that was was Stellar Wind before Snowdon or 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:59.119 was that a part of Snowden. That's the only thing 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:01.040 I can't remember because I know that's what I learned 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:05.160 about what Yes Nowdon talked about. I think Wired released 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:08.080 that when Wired and Washington Post in the Guardian, we're 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.960 able to do as this huge data mining operation very 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:15.080 illegal as in the wake of nine eleven that's when 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:18.040 it happened, and a lot of people who had top 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:21.159 secret security clearance wouldn't know about it, and a lot 0:22:21.200 --> 0:22:23.159 of people who could have raised a flag in the 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:27.240 halls of government weren't told about it because you can 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:31.320 weaponize classification. There's an incredible whistle blower. I remember seeing 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:34.320 videos of him talking about this, and it's like I've 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:38.480 been trying to get tell people about this. William Binny 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:41.320 b I n n E. Yu say he was an 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:44.480 n s A agent who became a whistle blower and 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:48.240 talked about Stellar Wind and was not promoted afterwards. To 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:52.680 put it likely, so to get access to this, let's 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:56.760 take Benny as an example, he had to successfully go 0:22:56.920 --> 0:23:01.800 through what's called a single scope background investigation. This is 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:05.119 the high level one they talk about. They check every 0:23:05.240 --> 0:23:08.080 job you've ever had, whether you told them about it 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:13.440 or not. Education, any affiliations or organizations you've been kicking 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:18.720 it with, UH, any local law enforcement stuff, about every 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:23.000 place you have lived, worked, traveled, or attended school. Uh. 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:27.560 They'll also interview people who you personally and professionally. They'll 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:30.639 run your credit. Uh, they'll look if you've got a 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:32.960 spouse or someone who lives with you, whether that's a 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:36.359 roommate or a romantic partner. They're getting the business to 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:41.119 Everyone gets touched. And the reason everyone gets touched, as 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:44.800 paranoid as it sounds, is because in the era of 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:49.360 the Cold War, a lot of like deep cover folks 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:53.600 were able to successfully fool the system. So it's a 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:57.960 real thing. Even when it seems silly. Uh, it is dangerous. 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:00.399 And if at any point you refuse to us close 0:24:00.480 --> 0:24:04.000 something or you accidentally don't disclose it, the rule is 0:24:04.560 --> 0:24:09.800 you're automatically disqualified. That's the rule. So no scrups. You're 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:12.400 doing this cross word in pen and you can't get 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:16.800 an answer wrong. And in the end, it's like, how 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:19.720 how often do you still say the pledge of allegiance 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:22.480 to yourself in your mind? Because really it's what it's about, 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:25.640 right allegiance to the United States. If it's that, if 0:24:25.680 --> 0:24:28.480 that's the government you're trying to get into. Yeah, so 0:24:28.600 --> 0:24:32.320 let's think of it in terms of without getting too 0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:34.639 in the weeds when you get to the crazy stuff, right, 0:24:34.680 --> 0:24:38.480 So without getting too in the weeds, investigators are looking 0:24:38.600 --> 0:24:41.760 for exactly the kind of stuff you would think about. 0:24:42.000 --> 0:24:44.320 They want to see whether someone has lots of debt 0:24:44.920 --> 0:24:47.960 that means they're easier to manipulate. Right, there's a financial motive. 0:24:48.000 --> 0:24:50.720