[Buckeye McFrog]

When almost 900,000 people have Top Secret clearances you really have to wonder. What are the odds that you could get the entire population of Philadelphia to keep their mouths shut about anything?

This story to me just illustrates that government is pretty much structurally incapable of managing ANYTHING efficiently, be that intelligence, health care, school lunches, etc.

[Secret Agent Man]

Generally the character of the average person with TS clearance is more reliable and generally patriotic than the average person in Phliadelphia. That’s how most secrets are able to be kept.

[AdmSmith]

For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.

That should be reduced to two. 900 000 with TS clearance is ridiculous, they will only spend their time reading reports and participating in meetings.

Merge many agencies and then cut the total budget by 2/3, forbid them to write paper reports, put everything in Intellipedia.

[Salgak]

Well, you figure about half of them, or more, either WEAR the uniform of our Armed Forces, or used to wear one. Right there, it puts the numbers in perspective. . .