No Clearance Reform = No Progress
Examiner – You cannot reform intelligence until you fix the clearance problem. You cannot privatize well until you fix the clearance problem. In fact, one of the core underpinnings of my “nation-state as a market distortion” argument is the flaws in the security clearance process. It is a mess:
Minoo Krauser, of Gaithersburg, has two cousins living in her native Iran, a faraway family link that could be preventing her from getting a job at America’s secretive intelligence agencies.
Krauser has applied online to three agencies, figuring her Farsi fluency is her ticket to join the war on terrorism, in which language skills are highly prized.
Mike McConnell, the nation’s top intelligence officer, said last month his agencies need more linguists but are stymied by Cold War rules. Agencies, he said, still discriminate against applicants who have family abroad.
This may be the reason Krauser has been rebuffed. She has yet to hear an answer, or even get an interview, after filling out applications for the FBI, CIA and the National Security Agency.
I can relate to this- I recently wasted a lot of time trying to get a foot in that door. (I am fully able to get a clearance. Just did not want to wait several years for an internship.)
-Shlok
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