SS doesn't need to tell you guys that you're wrong - I'll do that for him.
Folks are under some sort of misconception with respect to government access to sensitive information.
For the rank and file, including yours truly, you need a security investigation and a clearance high enough for the access you require to do your job.
However, for ELECTED OFFICIALS, there is no such process required.
George W. Bush, John McCain, Barak Obama, Dianne Feinstein, Cynthia McKinney, they're all granted access to top-level programs by virtue of their elected position. That's it. There's no security clearance granted, because there's none required.
It vexes those of us who undergo invasive background checks and polygraph tests, to no end. I asked that question of my Defense Investigative Services officer when Uncle Sam did one of my 5-year SSBI refresher investigations some years ago. She spelled out the above loophole for me, and agreed with me that it kind of made a mockery of what we were doing at that moment. We chalked it up to a thumb-in-the-dike sort of approach for preventing security leaks.
Now, if said congresscritter screws up and is found to have created a leak, then their access to such information can be removed. Typically, it's their underling staffers that we had to ferret out and penalize for the violations. I remember at one time we actually created several different versions of an official report for distribution to our DC customers, with subtle changes in phrasing and verbage, to find out which particular office was leaking sensitive information.
